Dragon Tales

You stand in a village square surrounded by villagers that are complaining all at once and very loudly which... makes it quite difficult to understand them. "My sheep!"

"And then there's my vegetable garden."

"I saw it!"

"Biggest thing I ever laid eyes on!"

"It weren't that big!"

"Can dragons be small?"

"I say it ate my sheep! Six of them in one sitting!"

"It took Fluffy! My bunny!"

Burai glances back and forth between speaking villagers, a bemused look on his face. "A small dragon that eats sheep, and rabbits?" He glances at the other adventurers to see if any of them seem convinced. A moment later he raises his voice and addresses the villagers. "Silence!" he bellows. Then a moment later, "It is clear that none of you know exactly what you saw." How could they, he wonders, in this land with strange creatures seemingly in every cave and behind every tree. "But if you describe it, accurately, maybe we will recognize it." He looks at the one who claims it was 'biggest he'd ever seen'. "You first."

Faranmidahn gently strokes the chitin of her beloved Torrent's foreleg, a vaguely bemused s-curve to her lips, the glossy huntsman spider patiently carrying a collection of gear strapped to it's back as the villagers ramble. She and her mount are a bit back from the others, close enough to listen, ideally without spooking the locals with -BIG-HONKIN-SPIDER-.

"MMn. Yeah, we're gonna need you all to calm down and stop talking over each other," is what Stena replies. "So let's start over, here." She's taking it easy, her axe over one shoulder as she lazily studies the area, and the gathered villagers.

GAME: Burai rolls intimidate: (4)+2: 6

"Wait..whaaa?"

Ignis is one confused fella. He runs his hands through his messy hair and sweeps his gaze from one villager to the next as the flurry of information tumbles from them in rapid fire succession. He looks towards his fellow troubleshooters just as Burai steps up and takes the lead to try and sort the villagers into some sense of order. When the massive half orc thunders at the villagers he winces and steps forward to hopefully add some balance there.. "Easy there big fella. They're just...being nervous locals."

To the villagers he turns and backs up Burais and Stenas words with his own and an easy going smirk, "We're just eager to help and I'm sure you can see we appear capable. Can you slow down and give this to us a little more organized?"

GAME: Ignis rolls diplomacy: (3)+10: 13
GAME: Stena rolls Diplomacy: (14)+3: 17
GAME: Faranmidahn rolls diplomacy: (16)+3: 19

It doesn't look for a moment like this is going to go well. Burai yells and the little girl who was talking about her bunny rabbit starts to cry. Her mother starts looking /real/ irate /really/ quick. Which is about when the others chime in and the group of villagers notice the spider. The spider (even more that Burai's shout) makes everyone go quietly long enough for Stena and Ignis to be heard and the man who was talking about the 'biggest' looks a little bit shy all the sudden. "Well... I mean. I saw its SHADOW. And that was the biggest shadow I ever saw! It was huge!"

"Shut up and let someone else talk Bill!" Someone else says and the mother comforts her daughter who... well she's still crying. "It ate my sheep and that's more important. Six of them! Just disappeared!"

"That's because the shepard's boy went running off to find out what happened to his sister's rabbit! Had nothing to do with the lizard I saw sneaking around!" Okay so maybe nobody knows what's going on here.

Burai purses his lips. Then he nods at Ignis. "Perhaps you are right. Six sheep? It must be a monster of some size..." he listens to the villagers for a bit longer but it's clear he doesn't follow any better than he did before. Finally he sighs. "Can someone at least tell us which direction it was last seen?" he asks. He watches the one who claimed to see a lizard as he asks this.

Faranmidahn ahems, then, since her voice usually doesn't carry very well, she brings her hands to her mouth, "How much time between you seeing them last, and you noticing them gone?" she calls, trying to enunciate better just in case. Then she goes back to petting her friend.

"Hmm.." Ignis rubs his jaw and then shakes his head, "It could be a number of things. This is still to broad but yes a direction and some sense of time would help. Maybe we should check out the locations in question?" He turns his gaze on Bill first, "Where were you when you saw this shadow? If it's big as you imply there's got to be some evidence? And maybe we can be shown where the sheep were taken from?"

GAME: Stena rolls Survival: (8)+0: 8
GAME: Burai rolls survival: (2)+11: 13

Your questions lead you all around the village, but there's no sign of any lizard, dragon, or the sheep in question. The only thing you do find are the tracks of the stalwart shephard heading out of the village from the rabbit hutch. Mostly because the boy clearly doesn't know how to hide his tracks. You are informed that the sheep were afield when they were 'disappeared' and true enough you find some evidence that they were out to pasture, but tracking them is beyond your abilities at this time because their tracks are /everywhere/.

"Well, this is no help," says Stena after a long moment of staring at the grass.

"Also, I stepped in sheep shit."

There is a heavy sigh.

GAME: Ignis rolls sense motive: (19)+4: 23

"Well, since there's no blood, they weren't drug off from here." Faran offers musingly, the crook of her finger against her lips, "What would one do with six sheep and a rabbit?"

Burai seems to be especially discouraged they can't turn up any clues. "Even though we don't know where to start," he muses, "We could move in a circle around the village, just beyond the outskirts, and hope to pick up a trail. It's the only way I can think of," he adds after a bit. Maybe he's secretly disappointed in himself, since he's been tracking creatures of the wilds since almost before he could walk.

Well then..this isn't going anywhere. Ignis purses his lips and looks mildly perturbed as he studies tracks that..tell him absolutely nothing. An second later and he's glancing back to the village proper and any who are still gathered and following that he's returned towards them to speak again, moving ahead of his companions and pulling aside Bill, first and then settling his gaze on the mother and daughter. After a moment of thought he approaches them both,

"Is she feeling better?" he asks of the mother while looking towards the girl, "I'm sorry if we scared you all we're just really wanting to help you all be safe.. We don't want to disappoint anyone."

He tries again to bring any sense of charm he has to bear and looks to the young girl, "Did you...see -anything- that might help us,.er..save the day? It doesn't matter how little it may be."

Stena is lettin the others do their thing. ask questions. Take point. Lead the way. You know how it is. She's just trying to get the sheep poop off her boot.

It's working. At least a bit. She sighs audibly.

The little girl sniffles once theatrically, but she hasn't been crying for a while. She's young enough that it's actually meaningful, and she looks up, and /up/ at Ignis. "I saw this big mean black lizard come and take my bunny! It snuck in while mommy was sleeping. Endrik saw it too! He took daddy's sword and went after it. Said it'd be after the sheep next because it's mean and took Fluffy. He went off that way." She points purposefully in the direction of the shepard boy's tracks.

Success! Ignis remains crouched at the girls side but makes a rapid gesture to try and get the attention of his fellow companions to bring them over and share the new information.

"Thanks for being so brave." he nods his head to the girl and grins, "We're going to go get your brother back. Don't worry, alright?"

Faranmidahn cants her head a little, looking to Torrent, then the little girl and slowly, as much from her smaller stride as concern about 'de spooky', she brings the spider a little closer to her comrade's position.

Burai looks mildly impressed with Ignis. "Well done," he murmurs and then turns to head along the trail in the direction the young shepherd went. He doesn't let himself get out of sight of the village - or the rest of the party to be more precise. He has the good sense this time to wait until he's well outside the village before drawing his gigantic sword.

The little girl grins at Ignis and eyes Torrent with wide eyes. "OOOOH! A SPIDER! Can I pet it mommy?"

"What? NO! Certainly not!" The woman looks horrified at the mere thought and the girl sighs regretfully, eyeing the giant spider fearlessly.

The little girl has no further information for you, so you are left with the trail of the shepard boy. It's clear enough thankfully that any of you could track him by it, at least until you reach a more wooded area. Then it becomes a bit more slow-going. It seems that the boy is smart though, because he left trail signs behind that you might be able to read...

GAME: Burai rolls survival: (9)+11: 20

"I thought there might be more to the story. I was worried we might be getting wrapped up in some sort of internal feud. Still might be.." murmurs Ignis to Burai and the others, "At any rate, sounds like this might be a rescue mission now. What sort of creature do you think it might be?"

"I'm not certain," Burai murmurs to Ignis, although most of his attention is on the tracks they are following - and also on their surroundings. "But whatever it is, it's good that we are here. This lad may be brave but he'll be no match for most of the creatures he might be following."

Faranmidahn smiles brightly to the brave little girl, "A Knight's heart...!" she says fondly, clapping a hand to her chest and bowing to the young one. She deflates a little with the mother's response, but nods, wheeling her companion about to follow her comrade's attempts at tracking.

GAME: Stena rolls Survival: (18)+0: 18
GAME: Faranmidahn rolls survival: (6)+2: 8
GAME: Ignis rolls survival: (15)+0: 15

You begin to find signs that something bigger lives here. Scratch marks on trees, disturbed underbrush. Something that doesn't care much for its environment if the rending of a small sapling from the ground is any indication. About an hour into your trek you actually spot Endrik, sneaking forward slowly through the underbrush ahead of you. He's moving very slowly, and seems focused on something ahead of him that's hidden from your view at the moment.

Burai slows his own pace when he realizes what Endrik must be doing. "He's caught sight of his quarry, I think. But if we approach him and startle him, he may reveal himself. If we could contact him somehow..."

Ignis doesn't seem quite as sure as he approaches Burai and waits for Stena and Faran to join as well. "We need to get ahead of him and pull him back. Quietly if we must but he's in no position to try and take on something that can do this.." he gestures at the damage to the foliage, "On his own...And if the creature sees us...well..that's why we're here, right?" Of course he's not necessarily volunteering to sneak ahead. He knows his limits.

Narrowing her eyes, Stena glances towards the others. She's definitely waiting to see what they want to do next.

Faranmidahn signals Torrent to stop as Burai starts to ebb back his pace, subconsciously hunching down, even though... yeah, giant spider. She gives a curious look to their tracker then, "Any idea what he's chasing?" she whispers. She looks between the others, then starts to mount up, "I can try to work around, but our pace won't be terribly fast."

The boy ahead of you stops, and then ducks his head even lower, practically disappearing into the brush. It seems he's pretty good at this whole tracking and stealth thing. When he ducks down you can see just the barest edge of a pond. Which doesn't tell you much if anything.

Burai shakes his head. "I don't see what he's following. But does anyone else see that water?" He squints. "Not a river or stream I think - it some sort of pond? If it's some sort of water creature we may be able to risk moving closer..." he glances at the others for their thoughts. Burai is willing to fight monsters but not by himself...

"..is that right?" says Stena frowns. "Great," she mutters.

She's definitely stopped herself, doing her level best to stay quiet and behind the others.

"Oh. Great." grunts Ignis as he sees this happen. His hand rests on blade and grips it, unsheathing the ornate ancestral but still effective weapon. "I think the time for caution is over yes? If nothing else we can pull the creatures attention onto us and not him."

He nods to the others and then grins, "I mean...do -you- want to risk the wrath of that mom back at the village? I sure don't." A flick of his wrist and he's brought his sword fully to bear, ready to move forward if the others agree.

Faranmidahn hmm's, "I'll circle around and provide support fire." she says softly, pulling her shortbow from the saddle and, after a short struggle, stringing it. She clicks her tongue twice and pats the spider on the left side before it moves along to cut around with as much silence as the arachnid can muster.

It's perhaps just as well that Faranmidahn strings her bow now as there's a sudden roar and yell from the edge of the water and a great commotion which draws your attention. It seems that the boy has managed somehow to catch the attention of whatever creature he's been stalking!

GAME: Faranmidahn rolls perception: (15)+4: 19
GAME: Faranmidahn casts Magic Missile. Caster Level: 2 DC: 14
GAME: Ignis rolls perception: (2)+0: 2
GAME: Faranmidahn rolls 1d4+1: (1)+1: 2

As Faran rides Torrent to the sound of rage and dismay, she hesitates at nocking an arrow on sight of the lizard biting at the boy. With extended middle and forefingers held together, she traces a figure eight in the air before her, voice ringing (chirping) out her invocation, "By will in strife, I send might's shard, go forth and strike!" While not half the poet some sorcerers think they are, she nonetheless unleashes a dart of white light that streaks into the lizard like a bullet! <halfling>

Well this is about the worst case scenario that Ignis imagined. Or just about at least. There's a time for caution and moving slowly and they sort of did a touch to much of that and the matters been taken from his hand.

He immediately sets off into a sprint, jumping over foliage and ducking under others to try and close the distance while yelling out, "Hey kid! Fall back!" He glances up as the darts of white light zip by overhead and then returns his efforts to trying to get down to the battle and see just what the heck is causing all of this trouble.

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+13: (17)+13: 30
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d8+6: (1)+6: 7

"...damn it." Stena is quickly throwing a spell up on herself as she advances towards the lizard. She could've charged it. /Should/ have charged it, but for once, caution overruled her senses.

There's a horrified, terrified scream from the kid ahead of you as the creature attacks him, and a loud /crunch/ as something breaks. The sound echoes down your spine and you know in your heart that it's not a log that just broke.

GAME: Stena casts Shield. Caster Level: 4 DC: 14
GAME: Burai casts Flaming Sphere. Caster Level: 4 DC: 15
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+8: (7)+8: 15
GAME: Burai rolls 3d6: (12): 12

Burai looks grim as the boy is attacked - the expression only deepens at the sound of the screaming. He moves in grimly, shifting his grip slightly to hold his sword with one hand, so that he can point the other in the direction of the lizard. He chants and a ball of flame appears behind it, hopefully keeping it away from the water - where Burai is reasonably certain it would be more at home and thus more difficult for the party to deal with. Almost as soon as it appears it rolls into the lizard's hindquarters, to burn it's hide.

GAME: Faranmidahn rolls weapon2+1: (11)+4+1: 16
GAME: Ignis rolls heal: (2)+5: 7

As the boy is bitten, Faran's eyes widen in anger for a heartbeat, then narrow in fury. Almost absently discarding her bow, she slaps Torrent's back and all but -tears- her lance from its place. On the way in, she screams, "You will not have him!" so fierce! Too bad, she doesn't quite get the lance into the cradle in time to actually hit the beastie, but, if nothing else she does present a more immediate target than the poor boy, 'Behind us!'. <halfling>

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+11: (11)+11: 22
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+11: (11)+11: 22
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d8+6: (8)+6: 14
GAME: Ignis rolls 1d6: (3): 3
GAME: Stena rolls 1d20+8: (3)+8: 11
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+11: (6)+11: 17

The lizard creature roars again, snapping at Stena this time and the roaring... almost sounds like words. Is it words? "Get off my lawn!" <draconic>

The situation now clearly presents itself and seeing the attacking creature and the condition if the boy causes Ignis to lose all pretense of bravado and instead launch forward with reckless abandon, It's not a pretty sight, A swiping attack from the monster nearly ends him right then and there and sends him into a crumpled heap that manages just enough willpower and sense of purpose to act as a shield for the boy.

He cries out in shock but then grits his teeth and rests both hands on the youngster, The Sun warms its way into his hands, sending healing into the crumpled child. "Daeus, help us..."

GAME: Burai casts Cure Light Wounds. Caster Level: 4 DC: 14
GAME: Burai rolls 1d8+4: (6)+4: 10
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (16)+7: 23
GAME: Burai rolls 3d6: (14): 14

Burai sends his great ball of fire rolling into the lizard once again, as Burai himself moves over to stand behind Ignis. He chants a quick invocation to the healing powers of nature and places a hand on the paladin's shoulder. Burai has seen enough combat to know how important healing magic can be - after the fight if not during - and by association how important healers can be.

GAME: Faranmidahn rolls weapon2+1: (7)+4+1: 12
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+11: (16)+11: 27
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d8+6: (4)+6: 10

With a click of her tongue and a tug on the reins, Faran sidles Torrent around to the lizard's facing, an adorable growl in her throat, glancing back to snap, "Get him clea-AAAH!" her instructions are interrupted by the retributive bitings of the scaly creature that took exception to her intrusion.

GAME: Stena rolls 1d20+8: (5)+8: 13

There's no time for even a word of thanks though Ignis does give Burai a breathless nod as the healing virtue of the Green Word flows into him and rapidly knits him back together. His hand aches and twitches, gripping his sword ..and then he holsters it and gritting his teeth in frustration, reaches down and begins to rapidly withdraw with the reckless boy in his care.

"You and I are gonna have a talk, kid.." he grunts while backing off and hoping his companions can hold the line..or safely fall back themselves.

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+11: (20)+11: 31
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+11: (19)+11: 30
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d8+6: (7)+6: 13
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d8+6: (3)+6: 9

The lizard seems to become enraged, roaring louder than ever and grabbing Stena in its mouth where it shakes her like a rag doll. Then it drops her back to the ground with a sound thump - the warrior somehow landing standing on her feet and still alive in spite of that gruesome treatment. The lizard then yells loudly in the common tongue, "GET OFF MY LAWN!"

At least Stena's shield protects her until it doesn't. She yells in pain and rage as the maw throws her about, her axe strikes being deflected by its thick hide. Unhappy, is Stena.

GAME: Burai used a Wand of Cure Light Wounds.
GAME: Burai rolls 1d8+1: (5)+1: 6
GAME: Burai rolls 3d6: (11): 11
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (6)+7: 13
GAME: Faranmidahn rolls diplomacy: (2)+3: 5

Burai places a hand on Faranmidahn's shoulder now. For in the battle strategies he's learned, cavalry rank only slightly lower than healers in importance. He has his flaming sphere roll around the creature and attack it in the front now. No sense trying to keep it from its natural habitat - no, the monster has proven so brutal and viciously proficient at combat, that there's no place Burai would rather it go than into the lake. But even as the ball rolls into the monster there's no sign of it slowing down, and Burai begins to drift back away from the fight as well in the same direction Ignis has gone.

"Alright...?" Faran starts, holding her lance at a warding angle as she waves back at her companions with her bleeding arm, "Stand down..." She shudders at the sensation of the healing magic and nods, "We only wanted to save our young." Ahem, "We're sorry about this whole affair."

GAME: Ignis rolls diplomacy: (11)+10: 21

Clues begin adding up. The creature speaks and is intelligent and hasn't actually -harmed- any of the villagers outside of scaring them and going after their livestock. It only attacked the boy after he went after it..and it has tried communicating with them. While defending itself from them.

"Stand down! Fall back!" he calls out ot his companions. Opting to give it the benefit of the doubt..cause it might also save more lives.

"My companion speaks truthfully! The villagers nearby are terrified and this boy made a foolish, reckless, dangerous action. We were trying to save him. Please understand. Let's come to an agreement so no more harm is done to any of us and restore balance!"

Since there appears to be some kind of conversation going, not that she can understand it, Stena retreats a few steps. She's not so deep in the throws of rage that she can't.

A good thing, too. She's unhappy, hurt, and she yells at it to let it know.

"THAT BLOODY HURT," she snarls.

The lizard glares at everyone, particularly those closest to it and takes a little step back, slapping the water with its tail at the ball of fire threatening it. "Just /go/." It grumbles, sounding like an old, old man.

GAME: Burai rolls 1d20+4: (20)+4: 24
GAME: Faranmidahn rolls knowledge/nature: (10)+7: 17
GAME: Burai rolls knowledge/nature: (2)+6: 8

Burai senses his flaming sphere's energy waning. In a sudden burst of empathic ability that he never experiences dealing with people...he knows just what to do. Raising his arms with a flourish, he drops them as the ball of flame dissipates - the implication being he willed it to vanish. Then he inclines his head in a respectful bow. "We gain nothing fighting you, mighty lizard. You are not prey, no more than this boy," he gestures at the shepherd, "Nor his village. Whether by your jaws or by the fire of humans, further contact will only result in pain and waste - for both sides..."

There comes a certain dawning in the little Knight's mind if the vaguely wonderstruck, vaguely horrified look on her face is any indication. She barely exhales the word, "Guiela...." She blinks twice and shakes her head, "Wh-why are you...?" She points her lance to the sky and gently pat-pats Torrent's back, and the spider takes that as the cue to back away, "You... you are a long way from home."

The lizard - the Guiela in fact - grumbles and slides into the water with a soft sigh of happiness. One might note now that the combat is over how unnaturally black and oddly sparkly the water is. "Yessss. Home. Long ways away." It sighs and slips further into the water. It's watching you, but it's not going to bother you any further as long as you don't bother it.

"The Great Lizard needs to understand that it can't steal food from the village. It terrifies them and harms their livelihood. More will come unless an agreement is made between the villagers and the creature about its home." Ignis speaks again, watching as the Guiela slips away and using his abilities to try finish the recovery of the wounded young boy,

"We've some explaining to do but we don't want it to result in some angry mob trying to storm this place. Is this..Guiela going to return home?" He looks to Burai and Faran now. Apparently the experts here.

Burai looks vaguely surprised. Then he shrugs. "If a village accidentally encroaches on the territory of some mighty monster...they should stop. Or move to the city. There's plenty of room for them there - a few dozen more won't make it any more crowded than it already is."

"I'm not certain he can." Faran says softly, "Guiela are from Am'shere, without some kind of mystical event, I can't imagine how he got here without anyone noticing before." Granted, that kind of 'mystical event' tends to be hard to miss, too. She looks to the man on admittedly better terms with the creature, "He also needs to eat. Perhaps we can arrange some kind of... accomodation?" Once she's far enough, she cues Torrent to belly-down and she dismounts to collect her bow and, for the lizard's benefit, makes a show of unstringing and stowing it.

Ignis' magic heals the boy, and he finally returns to consciousness, struggling to his feet. He has maintained his grip on his father's sword this whole time, and when he comes to he looks all around him. "Where is that monster?" He spies the pool of water and grips his father's weapon in hand. "We have to kill it! It ate Fluffy!"

"It nearly ate you as well," Burai points out, trying to keep the scorn from his voice. Then he does manage to soften his tone a bit. "And it fought all of us off as well. We only barely managed to recover you and to retreat before it ripped us to shreds." He peers at the lake. "I think you and your people had best stay far away from that creature..."

Ignis just looks at the boy as he wakes up and grips the sword. Just looks and then he says to Burai, "Yeah somehow I don't see them easily making that decision. People like the idea of 'home'..and can be stubborn.. I think some sort of agreement is more likely but it'll take someone like you two to broker it." He stands fully and moves to pull the boy up with him, "let's get you back to your mom and sister. It may come as a surprise to you but sister is more concerned about you being safe then what happened to Fluffy..."

Faranmidahn, her weapons stowed, manages to get back onto the spider before the adrenaline of battle fully wears off and she grips her bleeding forearm with a moan that she tries to stifle.

You stop the boy from making any rash decisions, and take him home. Admittedly he didn't think before he ran away from home with his father's sword, but you can't discount his bravery. Needless to say his family is happy to have him home alive. You explain the situation to them, and they're surprised, but oddly pleased. They explain that they haven't had any /other/ preditors in the area and this is likely why. One monster is a small price to pay for the kind of peace they've had. Particularly when the missing sheep roamed home at some point while you were gone. Seems that Fluffy was your only casualty. Now the little girl wants a giant spider just like the nice adventurer lady.

-End