Saving Fenneck

Life, Identity

Natalya and the gang explore the white dragon lair and see the aboleth, fight some kobalds, solve some puzzles, meet a salamder and fight the Mage of Shadows and save Fenneck.

Natalya approached the giant door with the five sigils and carefully inserted each one into it's place. She took a step back as the door made a loud noise and opened up in front of them with a loud creak. Inside was nothing but darkness. "Well... let's go," Tarin said starting to walk into the room before being stopped by Natalya's outstretched hand. "Stop," she said. "We should be careful," she warned him. Nerlureel walked up next to them and peered into the room. "Should we just go in?" he asked. Natalya looked over at Kotsik who gave her a small shrug. "Fenneck?!" she called into the void. Her voice echoed throughout the dark chamber, revealing nothing. Almyr walked up and tossed a rock into the room and they watched as it instantly disappeared into the darkness and heard it clatter to the ground. "Come on," Nerlureel said, walking forward confidently. Tarin cast Natalya a look before following his father into the darkness. Natalya took a deep breath and followed them. Kotsik nuzzled his head against her in fear and Natalya heard the door closed behind them with a loud boom. Suddenly the room lit up with torch light around them revealing a large room with six giant pillars leading down to reveal a magical pillar of light shooting from an alter that bore a five-headed dragon skull. Hovering in the pillar was Fenneck's unconscious body. Natalya felt fear overwhelm her as she looked next to the pillar to see the Mage of Shadows glaring them down. Natalya aimed her bow and watched as Almyr ran up and tried to attack him before bouncing off of a force field that was blocking their way. The Mage of Shadows chuckled menacingly. "You're persistent," he observed. "Stop this nonsense!" Nerlureel shouted to him. Almyr started hitting the forcefield with his quarter staff. "You're being quite disruptive to my plan. I'm starting to think I should dispose of you myself." "You're plan sucks! Innocent people are dying! You can't raise Tiamat from the dead! You do realize how bad that would be for all parties involved, right?!" Nerlureel shouted back. The Mage of Shadows shook his head. "I'm not going to explain myself to you simple minded people," he said turning back to Fenneck. Tarin ran up and slashed his magical sword at the barrier and it bent, prompting him to hit it again with more force dispelling the field. The Mage turned back angrily at this and Natalya loosed her arrow at his head, prompting him to disappear as Nerlureel and Almyr went to charge him.             Natalya glared into the Mage's eyes and they turned solid black and she felt a sickening feeling overcome her, prompting her to throw up and drop to her knees. She saw Fenneck drop to the ground and the Mage of Shadow vanished into thin air in a puff of black smoke. Nerlureel was in Tarin's arms as the young boy sobbed over his dying father. Natalya ran to him and closed her eyes. "Come on come on," she prayed before sighing with relief as her warm magic flowed from her hands. She saw Nerlureel's eyes flicker open and she sighed with relief before running to Fenneck. He was laying in a crumpled pile on the ground next to the alter. His beautiful green eyes flitted open and he smiled softly as she scooted to the ground and pulled him into her arms. "Fenneck! Fenneck, are you okay?!" she asked him frantically, pulling him in to kiss him and stopping to wipe the vomit from her mouth, causing Fenneck to smile and wince as he tried to laugh. He tried to speak but he only huffed weakly. She kissed his cheeks and felt him sigh with relief in her arms. "You're an idiot!" she told him, pulling away for a moment to give him a stern look. Fenneck smiled and nodded. "Uh-huh," he huffed before pulling Natalya into a fierce kiss, not caring about the blood, sweat and vomit she was covered in. "We need to get out of here," she said, turning back to see her very wounded and tired companions. Fenneck nodded weakly. She helped Fenneck to his feet and he leaned against her as they hurried out of the lair. They finally made it into the foyer and Fenneck stumbled into Natalya's arms. They closed the door to the lair and Natalya helped Fenneck lie down next to the fire. They all sat down and Tarin found an amulet lying on the ground that hadn't been there before. He studied it for a while as Natalya started the fire and set up some bedrolls for them to rest. Leesa, who had been wrapped around Fenneck's neck poked her head up sadly. She looked like the magic had been hurting her as well. She curled up next to Fenneck's side and softly gekkered to Fenneck who gave her a comforting neck scratch before laying back and sighing. Natalya laid down next to him and he looked over at her and smiled softly before closing his eyes to meditate. Natalya kissed him gently and Kotsik came and curled up against her back. She sighed with relief. She found him. He was safe. She closed her eyes and finally rested next to her thiramin after a very long, very tragic few weeks.