Eyes of the Lich Queen IC

[TheFallenOne]

The sight of a dragon made Grimmgang freeze in shock for an instant, staring wide-eyed at the creature. His body evaded on pure instinct; the motion was enough to break the momentary paralyzation. Following his initial motion, he got under the backside of the creature and spun around to toss a small hammer at it.

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Initiative - (1d20+7)[20]

10 feet forward movement, draw hammer as part of move, attack
(1d20+7)[20]
bludgeoning damage - (1d4+3)[7] + skirmish - (1d6)[4]

OK, their obsession with dragons was clear, but that they actually have a pureblood dragon... Interesting

[TekHed]

Shard was as surprised as Grimmgang at the sudden attack. Equally out of instinct it summoned it's shield again to block the incoming assault.

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Edit: What color/appearance is this dragon?

Initiative: (1d20+5)[25] Damn, Natural 20 Initiative ftw! Lucky for us it didn't get a surprise round on us...

Stance: Iron Guard's Glare.

AC before Initiative: 23. After Initiative: 31

Standard Action to manifest Force Screen. Swift action to activate Deflection Field. DF uses concentration to maintain and lasts for one round after I drop concentration.

I know we healed up, but we haven't rested yet right? So Shard has no spells per day left and is almost out of PP (not that he uses the latter for much).

Forgot to take that into account. This could turn ugly...

[Sallera]

The small black-scaled creature shrieks in surprise as Grimmgang's attack knocks it off balance, having apparently failed to notice his presence. A moment later, it makes an odd spitting motion, and a hissing jet of acid sprays Shard, wilting foliage where it splashes off. Regaining its poise, it wheels around to the side, hissing something petulant-sounding in an language that is presumably Draconic.

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Breath weapon: (4d4)[6] acid damage to Shard, Reflex DC14 for half.

[TekHed]

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Yikes! Reflex! (1d20+1)[15]

Hmm. Made it!

As the beast exhales it's caustic bile, Shard was prepared and juked to one side. Only a small splash of acid landed on its armor-body where it quickly sizzled off some of the ornate engraving with an acrid smelling smoke.

[TheFallenOne]

"Damn it, it's a trap!" Grimmgang hissed between his teeth. He quickly slung his shield on his back, reaching for the bow instead. "Get ready to run when more of them come."

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removing and stashing the shield will take both my move actions. Not sure if I#d have carried the shield in the first place since I usually do a lot of climbing on scouting duty. Should remember to declare equipment status in the future before it becomes relevant

[TekHed]

"I can sense no others!" Shard yelled back.

Nonetheless he began back peddling the way they had come, floating glowing shield and invisible deflection field raised and ready.

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Have 4 minutes on the powers, so long as keep up concentration. Full move back the way we came. Grimmgang...hit it with some poisoned arrows...

[Sallera]

The dragon hovers back and forth between the two of you indecisively, remaining approximately equidistant, but makes no immediate move to attack.

[TheFallenOne]

"Maybe this will scare him off", Grimmgang mused, notching one of the poisoned arrows he looted from the lizards and releasing it at the dragon, dodging sideways to shoot him at the blind spot created by his wings.
"If he tries to delay us, just run, I'll hold him off. I can get pursuers lost way easier than you."

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move, draw bow as part of move, shootityshoot

attack - (1d20+6)[25]
damage - (1d8+3)[7] skirmish - (1d6)[6] DC 16 Fort or strength damage - (1d6)[4]

that looks very promising

[TekHed]

Shard nods grimly but keeps moving...

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Your turn Sal.

[Sallera]

The dragonling hisses in pain as the arrow sinks deeply into its flesh, snapping at the shaft to break it off and falling a few feet before regaining control. It looks back at Shard one more time before dismissing him and turning toward Grimmgang. After an experimental hiccup, it sprays another stream of caustic fluid at the dwarf before darting away through the trees in the direction of the temple, nearly lost to sight before you have the chance to react.

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(4d4)[5] acid to Grimmgang, DC15 Reflex for half, and the dragon moves about a hundred feet away.

[TheFallenOne]

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Reflex - (1d20+8)[11]

I'll give him one shot in the back as parting gift attack - (1d20+6)[8] again, poisoned
damage - (1d8+3)[11] strength damage - (1d6)[4] secondary con damage - (1d6)[3]

secondary con damage first arrow - (1d6)[3]

Thank you poison dusk lizardfolks

"Seems dragons don't like poison", Grimmgang chuckled; it was one of the preciously few moments that made him smile. "We've been careless, I should have scouted ahead before we advance on the temple. They'd expect us now, best get lost."

[TekHed]

Shard nods. "It will be best if I go ahead then, and allow you to conceal our passage back to our prisoner. We need to rest and recovery ourselves, and wait until Trunk can return. Then we can determine Daiya's wishes and be at full strength next time. Perhaps we should attack from a different angle then."

The living crystaloid seemed about to head off into the foliage but it stopped, seeming pensive. "Do you think she will wish to return?" it asked the dwarf.

[TheFallenOne]

"I don't know the wishes of the dead", Grimmgang said flatly. "All I know is that most who are about to die wish they wouldn't. Never wondered what they thought afterwards, that's a priests concern. "
He turned around, starting to climb a tree to get a lookout at the temple, but then a couple seconds after his bleak answer he added "But I'll be glad to have her back if that's her wish." Without a further word, he made sure they weren't observed and then concealed their tracks.

[Sallera]

Trunk returns late the next morning, the wooden eagle gliding unseen between the trees as it approaches the campsite and resumes its original form.

"Good morning. Has all been well while I was away? I have managed to procure scrolls for the necessary rituals." Producing a scroll from his pack, he hands it to Shard. "Please, use this to find out what Daiya's wishes may have been."

[TekHed]

Shard accepts the rolled parchment reverently and walks over to the cold corpse of his departed friend. Kneeling down beside her, it removes the cloth revealing her blue deathly face. Even in death she looked noble.

Opening the scroll carefully. Shard begins to intone ancient words of power, weaving them through the sounds and reaching into the Great Beyond like a cavernous echo.

Somewhere from beyond the pale, the spirit of their fallen comrade heard her name, like a beacon back to the Prime Plane of Eberron.

"Daiya Milkeye. Hear me now.

If you wish, we have a scroll with us to reincarnate you. If your heart lies toward the Great Beyond, we wish you allspeed. If however, you are not yet done with this life, there is yet need of you here, amongst your friends and comrades. The world yet has need of your skill and valour. However, we cannot say in what form you would reenter this life.

Make your choice now."

[MoleMage]

"I was not finished."

Daiya's corpse answers as only the dead can speak, a haunting sound if ever one was heard.

[TekHed]

Shard nods. Removing the other scroll from it's case, the crystal being hands the magically inscribed parchment to the wooden warforged...

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[TheFallenOne]

Trunk shook his head when Shard offered the scroll. "Thank you, but I need to prepare the ritual first. Please step back and don't disturb me once I begin, it will take about an hour for the natural forces to give our dear friend a new body." He placed Daiyas corpse, arms folded over her chest, on the ground, only pausing momentarily when he saw her grisly wound again, by now attracting flies. He arranged some fresh green twigs in a kind of spoked circle around her, then took the scroll from Shard. "Soon, we shall have our brave companion back among us. The magic flowing through this land will restore her mortal coil." With that, he unrolled the scroll, intoning ancient words of power not intelligible to anyone not taught in the druids ways. Slowly, things began to move within the circle; small parts of the surrounding ground and plantlife began migrating towards the body, joining the corpse to assemble a new, functioning body. After an hour, when it was complete, a mended Daiya lay on the ground, still human, though with small changes. Ending the incantation, Trunk called out in a booming voice "Daiya Milkeye!" followed by a druidic word of power that called he soul down into her reincarnated form.
The wind picked up for a moment, rustling the leaves and taking away the scroll that slowly faded to ashes after the magic on it was exhausted. After that, an unusual silence befell the jungle, as if everything around beheld the ritual in reverence. "Rise, my friend, and be welcome back in our midst."

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I rarely play casters, may as well savour it while I stand in for Fury

Tek already rolled a CL check, or should I make a new one?
CL check - (1d20+5)[13]

[MoleMage]

As the spell reaches completion, the new body on the ground draws breath the first time. Daiya opens her eyes, now a vivid blue, and looks out upon the world for the first time in this life or her last. Instinctively, she blinks furiously.

"Friends. You brought me back. And...I can see. These eyes can see! So much...color? Is that what color is?"

Daiya experimentally stretches her limbs, standing and walking gently in a circle, then tests the weight of her sword, moving more and more gracefully as she adjusts to her new body.

"I feel like a different person, yet the same. And all this light is distracting now; I cannot concentrate on what I feel, what I hear, while my eyes still see. But now I have an additional sense to draw on, I suppose. How is it that I came to have a different body?"

[TekHed]

"Daiya, my friend!!!" Shard stepped forward, radiantly glowing both literally and figuratively, a smile etched wide upon it's crystalline features.

"The spell we had to use calls upon the life-force of nature...you could have just as easily come back as an elf, dwarf, or goblinoid. Although you look different, and your eyes now gaze back upon the world, I could never mistake your spirit. Welcome."

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Hey! Blue is my color.... you had gray...

[MoleMage]

"I see. Well, how does our mission fare? I'm afraid this new body isn't quite as toned as my previous one, plus my newfound sight is going to take some getting used to. For the time being..." Daiya rummages through her belongings, cutting a strip of cloth from an unneeded article of clothing. Doubling it over, she ties it tightly over her eyes, blocking her vision, then pushes it up to her forehead.

"There. Now I can fight as I have always fought, but still make use of my newly gained sight."

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I'll use RoyalBlue then. New body, new voice color, ne?

[TheFallenOne]

"Good to have you back. You had us all worried when you charged headfirst into a 30 pound club", Grimmgang said flatly, displaying his lacking ability of displaying emotion. "As for your question, we killed the high priest and somehow got out alive. Though Shard and I later made an alarming discovery", he continued, addressing Trunk as well. "They have a dragon, as in a real <expletive> dragon. A young one, but still. From now on, keep an eye on the sky and avoid areas without covering treetops."

"Well, whatever. Now we're complete again I'd like to tell you something. Sit down." The invitation lacked a 'please' as always, but the dwarfs voice was softer than usual, his dark eyes staring into the distance as he sat down himself, crosslegged. " Losing one of us reminded me of why I'm here. You all know the stories about the Mournland, but have you actually been there?" He looked at the others questioningly. "I have. In the war, before whatever happened, happened, and some years after on a mission a while ago. It's as dead as a place can be, but the dead still bleed. Something keeps the bodies there from decaying, they lie fresh as on the day they all died. Soldiers I fought with, soldiers I fought against, civilians, everyone... And they deserve better than this. But nobody is doing anything about it even years after." He paused as the anger in his voice started building up. "Far as the nations are concerned they can lie there for eternity, even the soldiers that fought and died for them, but I won't accept it. I tried some forays with small troups to get some bodies back, but it was on way too small scale and ended when some Warforged ambushed us. I need competent and honorable people I can trust, people like you, to fulfill my promise." He made a barely noticeable pause when he noticed his slip of tongue and quickly continued. "I'm still collecting funds and favours from the Houses to do this, but my expertise lies in war and exploration, not diplomacy. When this is all over, think about joining me, because it's the right thing to do or I have enough money to pay adequately. I don't care, I just want the job done."

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well, a little backstory dump. Might become relevant for the epilogue once we're through with this adventure, though I'd better not make any time estimates

[TekHed]

"United once more. Thank you Trunk. I will consider your request, but for now, let us focus on the task at hand...with the broad day ahead of us, shall we finish our errand with the children of the night?"

[TheFallenOne]

"We should rest, we exhausted most of our ressources far as I understand all that magic stuff everyone but me seems to throw around all the time", Grimmgang said glumly, seemingly talking about more than his current companions. "The dragon may be a problem, can one of you protect us from his acid breath? It loses it's mobility advantage in melee, but as long as it flies it seems only Daiya and me can engage it efficiently. Apart from that, they have the blackscales left we saw before running, maybe a small number of other troops. If we engage them in the confinement of the temple, the flying dragon would be at a disadvantage."

[MoleMage]

"I'm afraid I can't do much against it's breath, no more than you can at least. We might be able to avoid it if we stay out of the open. Are you certain it came from the lizardfolk? I had heard dragons were loath to give service to anyone. Perhaps it simply lives nearby."

[TheFallenOne]

"There were draconic images all over the place in the temple, their jewelry, not to mention that weird dragon-centaur thing. And we met the dragon within a couple minutes walking distance of the temple, I'd call that an improbable coincidence."

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well, he's not genre savvy enough to know the weirdness of Random Encounter Tables

[TekHed]

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So what's the deal? We really just need to rest and then head our back to the temple again...I mean, what else are we going to do?

[TheFallenOne]

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I agree, rest, prepare new spells, then attack again... Grimmgang just had a case of the common Dragon Panic(TM), notice how much of his considerations focus on the dragon although 4d4, reflex 14 halves every couple of turns isn't that bad when you think about it. He may have military experience, but now he's dealing with an unfamiliar situation and has the typical "ohcrapohcrapohcrap" reaction to seeing a dragon

[Sallera]

The rest of your day is relatively uneventful; even with a dragon somewhere in the skies, the camp remains undisturbed. The next day does not so much dawn as creep unnoticed over the horizon; a heavy rain has been falling half the night, and while the numerous streams of water draining into the ravine from the overhanging foliage are mostly even and undisturbed, the noise from above and the occasional soaking fall from an unexpected direction indicate that outside your shelter, the winds have risen high.

[TheFallenOne]

"Bloody rain", Grimmgang murmured, looking up at the dark sky in annoyance. "Well, one more reason to take the temple."
Learning from the past days mistake, this time he scouted ahead the way to the temple alone, checking for ambushes and their defences, walking ahead of the rest of the group barely within earshot.

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if no disruption

Once he reached the edge of the jungle, he waited for the others to catch up. With the rain and wind climbing again would be tougher, maybe we should just storm in and blindside them. Sometimes a blunt approach isn't bad."