The Undying Dragons - Campaign Thread

     “So… a truce between us?” Vonth asks, trying to pin down the necromancer’s intent beneath all the layered words and veiled threats. He keeps his weapon ready nonetheless.

     “And this lord you want raised again would be…?” He adds almost accidentally.  Even as he asks, part of him questions whether he truly wants the answer. Surely it will not be a comforting one. He has yet to hear tales of benevolent necromancer kings ruling cheerful little kingdoms.

     Vonth exhales slowly through his nose. The popular phrasing of being stuck between a rock and a hard place may need replacing with being stuck between a dragon and the undead if these two get their way…

((I'm starting to think Jan's estimate of being a day's travel away is way off if the troll managed to travel that distance this morning...))

She checks with K to see if they're ready to fly, making her way down out of the tree and moving away from the village in the direction opposite the trolls approach.

IN THE WOODS:

The necromancer turns their cowl hidden face towards Vonth. Vonth catches a glimpse of scarred and pock-marked skin; the result of a wasting-disease perhaps.

"When the Undying King rises to full power you will never have to fear death again," the necromancer says. "But who are you to need a truce?"

The forest has gone quiet with no sign of magic coming from Talis' direction anymore.

SITTING IN A TREE WATCHING THE VILLAGE:

((Time has been a bit fluid for Jan - rather than her just sitting in a tree waiting it's been streamlined a little))

K seems ready to go again, though a little disappointed to not get to watch the troll and what the guards do.

Opposite the trolls approach would take Jan along a pathway next to the river she saw when she was flying in and back in the general direction of where she things the lodge is.

((Didn't realize she spent the whole day in the tree, thought she'd been observing the village for maybe a half hour.))

Jan is more interested in leaving than learning more about the bathing habits of trolls, but will leave K there for now, pausing once she gets down to the ground to check in with them. If nothing is happening, she'll keep walking away, if something is popping off, she'll watch.

Avaria stares at the undead men.  The feeling of a sickly unease creeps up her back, what are they doing here?  She finds herself staring again at that hand with the eye, she just can't escape these people.  And this is what the Hargroves want?  For the undead to rise??  Does Ethel know this? 

Why are they in the middle of this battle between two awful foes?  She'd like nothing better than to erase Talis and this... man... off the face of the earth, but she was worried they were too powerful for the three of them.  It all came back to Soren and finds herself growling a bit as she thinks about him.

That's it.  Find Soren and make him take her and her friends to the place he was supposed to.  After a full nights rest she's sure he can conjure up another ring thing that he did earlier.  At least it's an actionable plan.

Turning to her new friends, "C'mon, let's leave them be.  We have no fight with these new comers and I've had it with Talis."  And unless Sol or Vonth stop her, she starts heading back towards the house.

     “Oh,” Vonth says to the cowled figure. “Introductions. Right.” He straightens slightly.

     “I am Vonth Woundwatcher of the Ogelellum Tribe. I also have no love for dragon worshippers or their cultists.”

     There is a brief pause before Vonth adds: “And thank you, but I am already managing the whole ‘not fearing death’ thing well enough on my own.”

     Vonth glances back toward the others, clearly preparing to introduce them as well - 

     Just as Avaria announces it is time to leave and starts doing exactly that.

     “Oh. Well…” He gives a small shrug toward the necromancer.

     “Sorry, but I suppose we are off.”

     Vonth falls in after Avaria, though he is careful never to fully turn his back on the cowled figure as they withdraw.

Marrin shrugs,

"We can only hope that Talis has an unfortunate mishap. No much we can do to influence that at the moment. Though, if Soren is still here we can find out what he's disclosed?"

She tries not to look too eager at the chance of getting at Soren.

WATCHING THE VILLAGE:

Jan and K’ are a little disappointed that there doesn’t appear to be any fighting breaking out between the guards and Trepsin the 4-armed troll. It looks like they recognize the troll.

“What are you doing here?” one of the guards shouts. “You know you can’t just come here without warning. You scare everyone.”

Trepsin pauses in his movement before saying “I need a bath. Just let me have a bath to clean off the smells and dirt and then I’ll go back to work.”

The guards huddle together for a moment before gesturing towards what looks like the stables.

“Around back, quick before children start crying,” the lead guard says.

The group guide Trepsin to the rear of the stables where K’ sees large troughs of water.

“There. A bath”

From the stables K’ hears a loud roar. Something almost draconic.

IN THE KITCHEN:

MDK looks towards the southern door to the kitchen and barks in heavily accented kobold-draconic.

“Where’s the bard?”

A sheepish kobold opens the door and peeks inside.

MDK shouts at him again.

“Took his pack and headed outside just now.”

MDK looks back to Marrin.

“Sounds like he’s leaving.”

IN THE WOODS:

Avaria, Solomona and Vonth head back into the woods, keeping their distance from both Talis and the necromancer.

As they crack their way through underbrush and branches, they can hear the sounds of fighting beginning again but so far no one is coming after them. Not engaging seems to have worked.

Back down the trail a ways they can see the route back to the lodge if that’s where they want to head.

     "We have a plan?" Vonth asks.  He asks it of both of them but looks mainly to Avaria - she is the one who took lead in walking away.

     "I can't imagine Talis is going to be very happy with us if they win."

Solomona jogs ahead down the trail, keeping ahead of the injured Avaria and letting Vonth bring up the lead. He is just around the bend in the trail when Vonth asks his question, so he calls out a cheerful reply:

Plans are overrated. They never go the way you expect. Today proves that, right?

He has no response to Vonth's next statement... and wasn't sure what he thought about it. Contrary to what Avaria said, he had no fight with the newcomers NOR with Talis. She had fed and housed him, and asked nothing in return but information. Despite the fact that she apparently worshipped an evil five-headed demon-dragon... she was pretty okay. He was sure as far as evil-dragon-worshipping cultists go, who wanted to take something from them, they could do a lot worse.

Yes, today had certainly proved that plans never go the way you expect. Most of Sol's expected picnic lunch had been left behind with Talis and her friends!

Marrin gestures towards MDK,

"Well... you are currently calling the shots here. Do you want to stop him and find out what he's told Talis or?"

She adds as a side thought,

"I think if he sees me and the others, he probably isn't going to come back willingly."

K will take the the air and loop up to get a look, Jan is suspecting the drakes, in which case it's time for them to make their departure. If K has visual on the drakes, she'll pop them back to her, then give him flight instructions to move away from the village and away from the more distant lodge before secreting herself inside the ring for another 6 hour flight.

     Vonth has no way to peek into Solomona's mind and see his thoughts but if he did he would think about how one person not seeing a reason to fight does not mean the other person doesn't.  Vonth would think about how a fight left unfinished rarely stays that way forever and how the length of time between the start of a fight and it's resolution only tends to build more animosity and increase the amount of eventual bloodshed.  And Vonth would think about how he's had too many unfinished fights lately - The prison may or may not count as such but Soren and now Talis both certainly do.

Avaria was done talking, and she tried to not look at her new companions who have found themselves tied up with what... this situation which she has probably just made worse.  Scowling she tromps her way back towards the lodge, hoping Soren is there so she can wring his neck.

She finds she does want her new friends to come with her, but after all this?  She wouldn't blame them if they left her.

K IN THE VILLAGE:

K’ flies up but the stables are enclosed and he has to dip and move around a bit to try and find an opening he can see through. In the meantime, Jan does catch glimpses of Trepsin, who has stripped down and set about bathing in the troughs at the back of the stables.

The guards look a combination of irritated, annoyed, disgusted, and a bit nervous.

K does finally spot an opening and takes a look inside the stables. 

Through those dusty little eyes, Jan doesn’t see any ambush drakes. She suspects what she’s seeing is much worse.

She spots two large lizardy-pseudo draconic looking creatures. Each has two scaly legs, leathery wings, and a sinewy tail topped with what looks like a stinger.

Cracked sheep bones and a few ox skulls cover the stable floor. On one wall, what look like riding harnesses and saddles hang limply.

In the stable:

((Is Jan still recalling K’ for a flight back to the lodge?))

IN THE WOODS

As Avaria, Solomona and Vonth make their way back along the trail, each thinking their own deep thoughts, all can hear the swooshing dives of the perytons. No one catches sight of them as the forest has curled over top of the trail and blocked out any direct view of the sky.

As they get closer to what must be the lodge, they can hear a lot of activity - the sounds of hammering and sawing as well as a lot of yips and barks that sound very much like the speech of kobolds they heard earlier. The group isn't quite close enough to make out specific words, but it sounds like someone is talking in Common as well.

((Is everyone just walking back up to the lodge?))

IN THE LODGE:

MDK looks at Marrin for a few moments, cocking his head from side to side, looking for visible angles to the bard’s suggestions and comments so far.

“You are trying to manipulate me, I think” MDK finally says to Marrin. But then the kobold shrugs and hops off the stool he has been perched on. “But let’s go talk to Soren.”

MDK heads quickly out of the kitchen, back through the hallways, then through the main hall, the demonic statues watching, and straight out into the yard.

Assuming Marrin and the others follow but wait in the cloak room (just inside the main entrance doors) until Soren is located, they can hear MDK shouting in his version of the Common tongue this time.

“Bard. Wait,” MDK says loudly. “You no have permit to just leave.”

A pause, and then Soren’s distinctively lyrical voice replies.

“There’s nothing more for me to do. I have delivered what I was paid to do. It’s not my fault you let it get away.” Soren says. 

Marrin can hear MDK’s footsteps going down the stairs and out into the yard.

“I hope they get away and you never find that chest. You lot are as bad as the dark ones.” Soren says.

“But our gold good, no?” MDK says, his voice sounding about as far away as Soren’s now. “You not pretend you noble now. You mercenary. So you come back now.”

“Let go of me,” Soren says. “I’m leaving.”

Marrin and the others hear the clink and chime of buckles and claps and scabbards banging and moving about. MDK might be actually trying to restrain Soren.

((Is everyone just walking back up to the lodge?))

((Vonth is following Avaria's lead.  Not to put the onus on kqstark or anything but Vonth would have finished the fight if not for her so he's trusting she knows what she is doing.  He doesn't know her well yet.))

(((Kidding!  Only kidding!  I kid, I'm a kidder...)))