Week 38 - And then there was one

The Traitors’ Graves

This low, sodden hummock of mud and rocky soil rises only a few feet above the dark brown waters of the slowly-flowing river. Here and there, tangled patches of wiry undergrowth grow, interspersed with muddy pools of water. Wooden frames in the shape of a Y protrude from the island here and there, and on some of them still hang the rotting bodies of traitors executed for heinous crimes. A startling number of crows perch on these frames or hop along the ground, where they hunt bugs and worms.

Today is a great day. The birds are singing, the bees are buzzing, the sun is shining, and our intrepid heroes are off to loot the lair of a dragon who they happen to know is dead and won’t be home. The location is the Traitor’s Graves, a mud island in the mouth of the eel river. The party kit up and head out.

On arriving, they are promptly met by three black dragons - two younger and a slightly older one. The elder class for parley. It seems that their mother’s old lair has been taken over by a terrible monster of alchemical magic - one immune to their acidic breath. They offer a deal: if the party clear out the lair, then the dragons will reward them with treasure.

A pretty weak deal, when you think about it. Flash and Frith sense that the dragons are not speaking in good faith. The party - via their telepathc bond - decide to loot the lair and teleport out. They tell the dragons that they agree to the deal, so as to save themselves the trouble of searching for the entrance.

Ilthane’s Lair

This earthen-walled cavern reeks of sharp, bitter chemicals strong enough to water the eyes and steal the breath. The walls of the cavern are a tangled mess of roots, mud, and stone. Water drips constantly from the walls, gathering in puddles on the floor and collecting in a fuming pool to the east. North of the cavern entrance five large glass canisters once stood, although they have been shattered and their contents allowed to wash away. To the northeast, a ledge is heaped with smashed containers, crates, and other unrecognizable ruins. To the east, a second ledge is similarly cluttered, only this time with alchemical equipment and large, ruined tables of stone and wood.

The foul, toxic liquid bubbles and surges to noxious life, sliding up onto itself and quickly filling out into the form of a lumbering, draconic beast. The thing’s body is semi-translucent and gelatinous, and streamers of acid drip from its flanks to sizzle on the ground—some of these strands writhe and crack like whips. Its long neck ends in a disturbing tangle of skulls, some human, some draconic, and some something in between.

The party enter the lair and without any ado are attacked. From the pool, three water elementals emerge - but they are not the real threat. A strange gaseous apparition congeals from the vapour and attacks. Gauthakan strikes at it, but his weapon passes through it and is damaged by the acid. Jericho wades into the water and takes damage from the acidic muck. But Flash is nearly killed when the thing breathes acid - one more hit like that, and he is toast. But “nearly” is not close enough. Flash unlimbers his big gun - “Final Rebuke” - and the monster is slain.

Andrew was out of town, so we rang him and did that bit. The creature was undead, so we confirmed that his spell would affect it. He also heard my reaction when I rolled a 1 for the monster’s save.

With the big one dead, the water elemetals give the party no real trouble.

Loot! While Flash amuses himself creating sounds of ongoing combat to fool the dragons above, Jericho ransacks the place. Most of the coins were silver and even copper (Copper! Yeurgh!) and are corroded and useless. There are a few gems and some gold pieces with enough real gold in them to make them worth something. But the real find is three potions, marked with the draconic runes for “toungue”, “skin”, and “sinew”. The party shadow-walk back to town, leaving Illthane’s brood above to guess at their fate.

— † —

Back at their lodgings, Flash examines the potions with his Artificer’s monocle. The potions appear to be incredibly powerful (for Eberron, anyway). Seems Illthane had a flair for alchemy. The “Toungue” potion grants the smooth-talking charm of a dragon. The “Skin” potion appears to grant draconic armouring, and the “Sinew” potion grant’s to the imbiber some portion of a dragon’s strength and power.

Frith consumes the “tounge” potion. There is no obvious change, except perhaps that his voice loses some of its weedyness and he appears a little more focused, more “there”. Over the next few days, he gets into the habit of checking that his beard does not contain obvious food fragments before wandering out into public. He’s still Frith, but he has gone from being faintly ridiculous comic relief to being a more or less regular guy with a hallucinogen habit.

Subject to approval from Bevis, of course. This is just a suggestion as to what going from Charisma 8 to 10 might do, but how he plays his character is his business. “What kind of D&D player builds a cleric with a Cha of 8?” you might ask. One that hasn’t played one much, I suppose.

Gauthakan drinks the “skin” potion, which is far less subtle. He immediately sprouts glossy black scales covering his shoulders, forehead, arms, legs, and abdomen.

The third potion they elect to keep

— † —

Next day, our adventurers head out to traitor’s graves once more - this time to deal with three pesky black dragons that will only be a nuisance if they are left alive.

Flash decides to disguise the party as that annoying group of Hobgoblins led by B’Krusk. Again they are met by three youngish black dragons and offered a deal. This time, the party attack. Two more dragons slither from under the water - and it’s on.

The fight is long, but eventually all but one of the five meets its fate:

The first juvenile, Ketu, is slain as he flees the battlefield by a Shadow Evocation, a fireball lobbed by Flash.
The young adult, Whiro, is Dizzied by Flash’s spell and decides to fight Gauthakan hand-to-hand. A serious mistake. Gauthakan scores four hits - two of them criticals - with a Goliath Hammer, leaving very little recognisable.
The second juvenile, Ness, also flees the battle. But not quickly enough. Frith catches her in a Blade Barrier. and she is sliced into a thousand tiny, tiny bits.
The other young adult, Zu, is killed by Flash’s “Final Rebuke” spell.
The third juvenile, Anbraxas, takes to the water and escapes. He alone of his family is left.

So one survives. And Anbraxis, after a few years, will no doubt be looking to do some serious hurt to every hobgoblin he can find.

— † —

And that would appear to be that. Will our skilled and stalwart adventurers get up to more mischief in the excellent town of Alhaster? Or will they lounge around for a week and attempt to make contact with Lashonna at the party? And what’s going to go down at the party itself, anyway? What about the ziggurat? What about the angels? What about the Sinchaser Report? And what about the other rumours they haven’t heard yet? I don’t know! Well, I do know some of it. But more to the point: you don’t know! So stay tuned.

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