Session 16, What a Cute Little Dragon!

“Oh, what a cute little dragon,” I call out in my sweetest voice. In reality, I am terrified, but Eowyn is down, possibly dying, and Julia isn’t in much better shape. Vardai isn’t responding. Will seems to be OK. I cast healing word on Eowyn and try to get the dragon’s attention off of Eowyn and onto me. Of course, the danger with that strategy is that it might work. I produce some flame and throw it at the dragon.
 
Pop the weasel attacks the dragon. Not that Pop ever does much damage, but Pop is persistent and vicious; another thing distracting the dragon. Over in the middle of the room, Vardai’s maul starts to glow. It looks like Vardai is coming out of her trance and starting to attack. I have to hold the dragon’s attention.
 
“Ooh, you’re such a good girl, yeah yeah yeah!” I say to the dragon again. Of course, I say it in the same way that I would say it to a puppy that I was training. And… as I haven’t had time to study the dragon’s anatomy, I’m not entirely sure if the dragon is a male or a female. Maybe I am insulting the dragon... maybe I am not. I cast Healing Word again and brace for the oncoming onslaught from the dragon.
 
Vardai swing her maul and hits the dragon in the flank with a devastating blow. I think I hear the dragon’s scales crack. The dragon stops paying attention to me and lunges after Vardai.
 
Vardai and I have different strategies in surviving attacks. I wear studded leather armor with a minor magical enhancement and a wooden shield. I can dodge attacks moderately well, but the armor and shield really help absorb the blows that I can’t dodge. Vardai, on the other hand, doesn’t wear much in the way of armor. She has magical bracers which give her some protection, but not to the level of armor. It appears her strategy is to just accept the blows and ignore it. She maintains such a focus and shear, relentless strength so that blows which would cripple me barely faze her. Both Julia and Will also wear light armor the same as me, but neither carry a shield. Eowyn wear heavier metal armor. It protects her much better, but she chooses not to carry a shield.
 
Anyway, back to the dragon. It is still going after Vardai. Fortunately, Julia and Will are connecting—hard—on their attacks. I need to keep the dragon distracted. “Did the mean old lady hurt you?” I ask to the dragon in a very mocking voice. As I said, I am truly terrified, but I put on my Courtier persona and act the part. I hope at least my hair looks good.
 
Eowyn hits the dragon with an electrical charge, delivered through Pop. Eowyn yells at me to get out of there, meaning to disengage from the dragon. But, I am holding my own and I don’t want to give the dragon room to maneuver, possibly getting a clear shot at Julia or Will. Vardai is swinging her maul hard… I need to hold its attention. In a mockingly fake sympathetic voice, I ask the dragon, “You look really hurt. Are you going to cry?” The maul glows as it seems to feed off of Vardai’s relentlessness, and Vardai hammers the dragon. I hear its skull bones shatter. The dragon is no more.
 
I say, “Crap, that was scary! We did really well guys.” In truth, I never doubted we would win, but… nevertheless… facing down a creature double your height that probably weighs several thousand pounds, most of that teeth, claws, and muscle, is very frightening. I am also learning that being an adventurer hurts. Cracked ribs earlier, many cuts, bruises, sprained muscles, jarring of the skull… all part of the job. Fortunately, magical healing typically makes solves the problems right away. The cuts usually don’t leave scars. The ribs mend. The bruises fade. Yes, I am sore afterwards. Sometimes, the healing magic causes its own pain it mends the body. Sometimes, the wound is completely healed by the magic, but the pain still lingers for days.
 
Besides that, bad things really can happen… which should give me a reason to be scared. If I fail to intercept the dragon’s claw with my shield and it cuts open my neck, there is no amount of magical healing that will save me. Then we are talking about Raise Dead or Revivify types of spells then. I am not sure I want to get to the point of having to be Revivified.
 
Certainly, I can heal without magical healing. But that takes days or weeks, or even years. In some cases, natural healing is desirable. When I first started taking long journeys, my feet became very sore. Over time, my feet toughened up, and I was able to walk the long distances needing fewer rests. With magical healing, I would lose that adaptation. My feet wouldn’t toughen up, and I would have to start over again. I am better off to allow minor bruises to heal naturally, as my body repairs itself stronger than before the injury.
 
Where was I… oh yeah, I told the party, “Crap, that was scary! We did really well guys.”
 
Will responded with, “I thought dragons were tough, but not nearly as tough as you.” It was a nice complement.
 
As we start to rest for a few minutes, someone points out that the dragon was hidden on a pedestal, and there are two more pedestals. We shouldn’t remain here for long, lest the two other dragons who might live here return.
 
We quickly scout out the area. There’s a casket, probably once used for the remains of Damik, the brother of Tamil. (See Session 14, Exploring the Tower). Julia recognizes a corpse belonging to Belamy, although I am not sure who Belamy is.
 
Vardai mentions someone named Calalilly. I think her mentioning Calalilly had something to do with her trance when the fight broke out with the dragon. She mentions that a guide has found her. Whatever happened, she seems to have unlocked some ancestral power in that maul of hers.
 
As I have said many times, Eowyn is really smart. In a very short time, she interprets some clues in the room that say something about the need to stop the defilers of Coral Gate. It refers to Menk and Bartholomew. Of course, Menk is the suspected vile Necromancer who must be stopped at all costs. Bartholomew is the no-good thief whom we encountered in underground ruins (See Session 3, Of Cantrips and Spell Choices). Could they be working together?
 
Eowyn also pulls out a reference to the demon Acgozluk. Demons are probably the one thing worse than necromancers. As Eowyn is admiring some artifacts, Will finds a cloak. The cloak allows him to blend into the background, becoming harder to see.
 
After we rest for a short while, I remind the group that we need to get to Pale Gear. Lavani had implored our help right before we fought the dragon. We decide to set out at once.
 
We make it back to the surface and spot smoke over the horizon in the direction that we think Pale Gear is. Avani was right, we are very close to the village. If you recall, we used a portal to travel to our current location, so we weren’t exactly sure where we were. We hurry. Soon, we come to a bridge that is damaged. The main supporting pillars are intact, but part of the span has collapsed. Julia, Will, and Vardai easily jump the gaps. I am not quite as athletic as they are. I summon Ember to teleport Eowyn and me across. We have to hurry! Zombies are attacking the villagers on the riverbank!
 
I know everyone knows about Zombies. But do you really know about Zombies? How do they even become Zombies? You’re in luck… I know all about Zombies. We can roughly divide undead into two types: Corporeals, like zombies and ghouls and the like, which are bodies without souls. Then you have incorporeals: Ghosts and Spirits… souls without bodies. (Quoted from JourneyQuest Season 1 Episode 5 by Zombie Orpheus Productions. Author note: If you haven’t seen JourneyQuest, you really should. Go support JourneyQuest on Kickstarter or through the Zombie Orpheus Website.) I say “roughly,” because some undead seem to break the rules. Vampires, for example, appear to have bodies and souls. However, it isn’t confirmed if vampires actually have souls, or if vampires just have the memories of their former life in an auto-functioning body. Liches, the pinnacle of undead animation, appear to have both bodies and souls. That said, I have never met a lich to ask if they have a soul. I’ll have to ask Eowyn if she has ever met a lich.
 
Let’s get back to zombies. As we established, they have bodies… mostly… but no souls. Their bodies are also in a state of decay. Any wounds that the victim had when they became a zombie continue. If the victim lost an arm, the zombie is created missing the same arm. From that point on, zombies never heal. Stick a javelin through them, the zombie has a hole from the javelin forever. Eventually, a zombie body will decay—whether through wounds or exposure to elements—until the zombie can no longer hold its form. Eventually, every zombie not killed in combat will die due to exposure to the weather. It just might take a decade to do so.
 
Despite that decay, Zombies are particularly resilient. It takes massive damage to kill a zombie. They can take injuries that would kill an ordinary person, and be back up and attacking seconds later. The necrotic damage that creates them imbues them with above ordinary strength and a relentless drive. They are unstopping killing machines, at the expense of their speed and agility. Even village folk without martial training can outrun zombies.
 
One of the most common ways to become a zombie is through foul necromantic magic. Even moderately skilled necromancers can animate corpses into zombies. Of course, anyone who would create a zombie is clearly of evil intent and must be dealt with. Some say that if you are bitten by a zombie, the necromancy contained within the zombie’s bite can infect you and turn you into a zombie. There is even a circle of Druids, known for specializing in spores and fungi, that can animate zombies. Unsure how that can be deemed as natural. Fortunately, with my specialty being Fire, I can sterilize the fungi and root out the necromancy. Anyway, I was about to tell you about our battle with the zombies.
 
Will and Julia beat the rest of us across the bridge. They quicky engage, firing away with their blades and arrows. It takes the remaining three of us a little longer to traverse the gaps, but we make it over. I burn one with my hurled Produce Flame. See, just as I said, fire works very well against evil necromantic animations. Suddenly, Julia becomes very nervous. Her owl just warned her about larger, more ominous undead. A Boneclaw appears right next to Julia.
 
Boneclaws fit into the same general category as zombies… bodies without souls. Only Boneclaws are much more dangerous. Eowyn will later explain that Boneclaws are created from necromancers attempting to become liches and failing. Regardless, they are really tough and really dangerous. Julia is in trouble.
 
 
I go to one of my biggest spells, Scorching Ray, to punish the Boneclaw attacking Julia. I push Ember to teleport Julia to safety. Vardai activates her Lightning Javelin and blasts the Boneclaw.
 
Another Boneclaw appears. I think it is using some sort of shadow magic to appear unnoticed. This one hits Julia hard and she goes down. Crap! I run in to heal Julia with a Cure Wounds spell, and then Ember teleports the both of us out us danger. Julia will probably feel those bruises for a week or two.
 
I see arrows fire, but I don’t see Will. Wait, Will is using his new cloak and is obscured. Cool! Vardai comes in and swings her maul hard at the Boneclaw. Unfortunately, she misses. As Eowyn is casting many damaging spells on the Boneclaws, and as Will continues to pummel them with arrows, we finally drop the last Boneclaw with fire from my Produce Flame spell. Cool! If Eowyn is correct—which she always is—I just burned a failed necromancer lich!
 
We run into the village proper. The village is mostly destroyed… burned. A dragon, much larger than the dragon we just fought, flew in and burned the town. The dragon was last seen flying East.
 
Lavani appears. As you recall, Lavani is the mayor of Montsilt and definitely of fey ancestry. She heals many of the survivors and we help everyone recover.
 
Afterwards, we arrive in Montsilt. Lavani asks me to walk with her into a garden. The garden feels like a druid circle. At least, it feels like what I think a druid circle would feel like. She says she wants me to meet someone. Devin steps out. He was part of the Etonia Ruling Council years ago, and then a dragon tricked him into becoming trapped in a mirror. That mirror shattered when the dragon attacked Pale Gear. Later, Will will tell me that Devin is a famed ranger who had been missing for years.
 
Devin is concerned that a great fight is coming. With thieves, necromancers, and dragons—and possibly demons—involved; I share his concern and pledge to do my best. Lavani gives me three items to aid me. She gives me a chrysanthemum imbued with the Plant Growth spell. She gives me a Sending Stone to be able to contact her. Finally, she gives me a Ring that allows me to cast Cure Wounds every day. With these gifts, I hope I can be more effective at adventuring and rooting out evil.
 
Finally, we finish and earlier promise and deliver the rubies (See Session 5, Cleaning Up Loose Ends)!