Connak snickers, "It seems like the gods are having a chuckle at our expense..."

The elder elven witch and her moonstone dragon colleague exchange some noticeable glances at Tink’s reference of herself as a gnome, but they decide to leave the topic unaddressed, at least for the time being.

Following Aerydesia’s revelations concerning Cryovain and Viathirix, (which seem to have come to her upon her interaction with the diamond pendant dangling from her neck), the dragon addresses Vaxis once again: “Tell us, silver cousin, do you know what became of the demonic cultists that were endeavoring to help Viathirix enter undeath through dracolichdom? Though the ancient white’s soul may now be the possession of Orcus, I doubt the Demon Lord of Undeath intends to keep such a potentially powerful minion on a shelf in the Abyss forever…”

"Don't know bout all of them but we killed a bunch of half orcs topside trying to do something fishy.  Something about boars or thunder boars," Minsys says with a shrug.

" That is a fair point, friend Minsys," Tabesha'l reflects aloud before she turns towards her grandmother and explains:" We have been warned about, then confronted members of an orcish cult worshipping a sort of thunderous god. Here, right in thy Manse's very gardens ! The cheek of yon tribal folks, truly... canst thou imagine ?"

She shrugs the subject off before continuing, " As for the rest of it all, I do feel we must really prepare if we ever are to confront Cryovain: mayhaps gather more strength... and knowledge. Which brings me to this: doeth thee know anything about a place named the Tower of Storms ? Is there anything there we could find, that would help us defeat our draconic foe ?" After hesitating a moment more, she finally adds: " I do also have a... somewhat private matter to resolve that hath to do with the place, I admit. Be it as it may, any further information thou canst give us or help thou canst provide will come of use." 

Then to Vaxis: " And obviously, if thou should happen to recall anything concerning this Cult of Dracolichdom as my grandmother suggested, it shallt be much appreciated as well, dearest !"

At the mention of the Tower of Storms and Tabeshal's 'private matter', Connak steps up to try and prevent a response to that line of questioning, "Here's what I was able to gather... The orc tribe were kicked out of their home by Cryovain.  They came down the mountain and have been rampaging but what they really want is to reclaim their home.  The cultists that took up residence in the manse above promised the orc tribe that if they helped summon their thunder boar god, who goes by ...umm... Gorthok, then Gorthok would fight and kill Cryovain.  The orcs bought it hook, line and sinker and when we tried to discuss the matter with them, they chose to try to sacrifice us to this Gorthok.  We ended up sacrificing them, which wasn't probably any better.  But then Tabesha'l tampered with the summoning ritual and the shaman disappeared.  Without any other evidence to the contrary, we think that threat is ended.  Oh, there was also a big nasty tree stopping up the well, but it decided to leave after we apparently released it."

"A cult of orcs? In my garden?!" says Aerydesia incredulously. "Well, at least they did not get into the house...how dreadful that mess would have been to clean up. As for the tree in the wellpipe, his name is Thatch and I put him there as an extra measure of security against invading dragons. He's quite wary of unfamiliar people, and doesn't know his own strength sometimes, I hope he did not harm any of you."

"As for the Tower of Storms," she continued, her voice dropping lower and more somber, "...yes, I know of it. It is a place of great power and great sorrow. It was originally built as a lighthouse, but it is much more than just a lighthouse now — it’s a temple dedicated to Talos, the evil god of storms. Many sailors have lost their lives as their ships crashed upon the rocky crags just beneath the waves at the base of the island upon which the tower is built. It is said a fortune could be claimed by anyone brave enough to search the shipwrecks found there, but one can only wonder how many ghosts must haunt that evil place. A good friend of mine - a sea elf named Miraal, had resolved to go there and chase away the evil that lurked after her lover was lured to his doom. I never heard from her again after she set out upon that task, against my stern warning not to..."

Connak tries to put the subject of the Tower to bed with some distractions, "Yes, yet another warning not to go to that tower.  They just keep mounting, the warnings...  Speaking of your house, based on the state it is in, I'll wager you've been down here for some time.  I don't think Orcs were the first to make a mess.  And Thatch didn't much care for the walls in its way either."

Minsys gives a snort as he tries to stifle a laugh, "To give it to ya straight, your house is in shite condition.  Walls down, holes in floors, twig people carrying corpses about....lots of corpses."

"Unfortunate," says Aerydesia concerning the state of her house. "I guess I don't really know how long I have been gone. Tabesha'l dear - how old are you now? You look lovely as a flower, but we elves maintain our beauty well into our sixth century. Please tell me your not yet 600, are you?"

The dragon seems to be becoming impatient with the conversation and interjects before Tabesha'l can answer: "Decades, my sweet Aerydesia, decades have you been locked in that device, keeping us safe. But now, you are no longer powering the repellant field it produces and so the wyrmlings are once again under threat. I urge action to clear the menace of yet another white dragon that imperils this region...." TO THE PARTY: "Say what it is that you intend to do and I shall assist you in any way that I can."

Connak is taken aback.  "First, I thought the staff was powering the repellant field, which is why Aerydesia is now free?  If it is not protecting your wyrmlings, then Aerydesia here will know how to get it working, no? 

Second, our intent is to drive away or kill Cryovain, and to that end we're searching for ways we can do that without getting most of us killed trying."

"I'm all for killing the white... but gots to ask.  Is it poor taste make something out of him?  Sometimes a beast just needs to be put down but my way is to use what I can of a felled creature, meat, hide, bone can all be used.  But I won't be offended it you just want the whole thing torched."

Tink blinks a few times as she listens to the conversation before she speaks up, "Excuse me. I know I've not joined your group for very long, but am I right in understanding that you are trying to kill a dragon? Now I'm not a wise old gnome by any means, but would think that such a venture would border on foolishness would it not? Even if you were serious, such an undertaking would normally require hundreds of hours of simulations to make sure we have all the bases covered."

Minsys gives a small laugh.  "Hundereds of hours of simulation?  Sure, that's what I call life.  One battle after another, to hone one's skills.  Can plan all we want but things tend to go to shite.  Rarely do things go to plan.  Gots to be confident in your skills, flexible in tactics and ruthless in execution."

" Well, be it as it may" Tabesha'l cuts in, " I do agree with Friend Tink here, as we shall surely need all the help, allies and training we can muster, 'fore we confront yon draconic foe." 

She turns to Aeredysia: " It has been a while and indeed thou hath been... missing from Our Fair Brethren's tales, as is. Now I do not intend to overstep our welcome, of course, but I daresay thou may have means to help us in yon coming ordeal, yes ? There will be time for tall tales and exchange in niceties afterwards... if we survive, that is."

Then to the party: " I was never one to bandy orders about, yet I feel if we are indeed intent on fighting this Cryovain, we must have a plan of sorts. Well... ?"

She looks at Minsys, raising an eyebrow daintily: " I daresay I know at least thy intent, Ô Barbarous Companion: foolishly run forward and brandish said-big mallet thou carrieth about thy person. Fair plan, of course, but what about the rest of us ?"

Minsys dropped the maul heavily upon the ground.  A dull clunk echoing off the walls.  He lifts it with one hand and holds if straight out pointing at Tab.  "Careful Tab, your ignorance is showing," he said and lowered the maul.  "Have you never hunted?"  

"No... doubtful, then I'll..." he starts as a large grin breaks across his face.  A large toothy and scary grin and his finish his sentence, "educate you."

He relished having been able to say that.  "When hunting, you first learn all you can about the creature.  How moves, where it hunts, what it hunts where it sleeps, when it sleeps, what it likes, what it ignores, what it hates. You study it and use it all to sneak up on it, surprise it and kill it swiftly."

AERYDESIA TO CONNAK: "My staff was originally designed to power the dragon-repellant device, but its wards had not yet finished taking hold before we had to activate the device...this was why I offered myself instead. Although..." she says thoughtfully as she walks over to Tabesha'l for a closer look at the staff, "...it would certainly be ready by now....my dear, may I?" she says, as she reaches for the item in an apparent request for her granddaughter to hand it to her.

The elder elf surmises that Tink takes special interest in hand-crafted devices fueled by magical power. "Young lady, you look as though you may have the gift of gnomish curiosity...would you like me to show you how this works?"

Tabesha'l relinquishes the staff, also curious to see how it operates. She then replies to Minsys: " Indeed thy... 'hunting techniques' do show a basic but quite efficient knowledge of raw tactics, and t'would seem we are then on the same scroll, here: namely learn all we can about our quarry - which I feel we have not, but do feel free to continue thy 'educating' if I'm wrong - and then sneak upon it and kill it swiftly - which sounds a little farfetched since it can fly and we have no clear knowledge of its lair, the set-up of yon dwarven stronghold, its tunnels, the eventual presence of wards or allies to Cryovain we may not be aware of, and so on..."

She concludes: " I daresay gathering more information on the dragon's den, its habits, when and for how long it leaves its lair, when it returns, if it sleeps at all and for how long, who may help us hunt it down - maybe this other green dragon ? the orcs, even ? - all of this hath to be discussed before we rush into the proverbial lion's maw. Or ?" she looks at the group pointedly, one after the other, to finally rest her attention on her grandmother and the moonstone dragon. " I'll admit I enjoy a long meanderous banter, but I am no fool. I still have to insist that none of us here present should risk their lives without a serious prospect of success."

"Wait a bit more if we have too.  But the longer we wait, the more strength he gains and the more killing and destruction he does.  And the weight of that to your choice," Minsys responds.

"Well live tests and training are well and good Sir Minsys, those are usually done when we are able to repeat the experiment as one says. When we have only one shot at fighting a dragon, I'd say training on the fly may not be so effective. Ofcourse if we have help of one who already has such experience that would be very helpful indeed! Madam Tabesha'l's suggestions are definitely something we can do to increase our chances of success."

Tink responds to Minsys before turning to grins at Aredysia's invitation, "Am I not a gnome? Ofcourse I'd like to see how it works! Who knows maybe we can find something that can be used to upgrade W.H.I.S.K.E.R.,isn't that right girl?"

Tink then draws closer to the elf lady, eager to see what the staff can do.

Aerydesia and Tink take the staff to the small alcove where the elder elf places it on a hook that holds it upright. Purplish energy crackles forth from the nodes on the wall and the entire structure begins to hum with a soft, low tone.

The two of them talk for a while as Aerydesia explains how the staff is able to power the device, then they rejoin with the rest of the others. "The staff is now powerful enough to fully power the anti-draconic field," says Tabesha'l's grandmother. "My dear, I am afraid I must keep the staff here but I believe I can offer you something that would serve as a temporary replacement for such a powerful weapon. Once you have terminated Cryovain, you may return here and claim the staff permanently. Nubs!" she calls out, "fetch me the floating library."

The goblin servant appears once again dragging a chain that is fastened to a small bookshelf, which floats along behind him as if under the effects of a levitate spell. "There you are my dear, you may choose one of these spells to add to your spellbook," she announces "but then you must make your final preparations. This dragon cannot be allowed to exist any longer."