Session 22 - Dragon Rock - an ecstasy of fumbling

General Summary

We sail off in The Cinder heading towards Dragon Rock and on the way Lilrie heals herself and Brovar, with the rest of us close to our maximum hits. The Forever Flask is still not full, so we know it takes longer than 24 hours to refill. Our actions have not gone unnoticed and we see torches and braziers being lit along the cliff, marking our progress. More Soa’n ships are on the way, but Ayla seems unconcerned as her crew fills barrels with pitch and make arrows. Riele circles above, Baka seeing thru her eyes. She no longer feels sick, and can move about quite freely, but probably could not fight at the same time.
Close to dawn, Ayla comes and says that Dragon Rock is near, and Baka nods knowingly. She tells us to fire a signal arrow when we are ready to be picked up and they will come to this location. No-one mentions the possibility that The Cinder will not be here when we come back. Baka tells us that it is an 800-foot climb via a staircase which will take us to the Emris side of the natural stone bridge which leads to Dragon Rock. As the bridge is only 5-ft wide it will be a hair-raising walk across. We will arrive in about 30 minutes time and Riele checks for an ambush, but the progress of the Soa’n’s seems to be hindered by thick vegetation. Obviously the Soa’n’s do not come this way often.
The crew of The Cinder take us up close to the foot of the stairs and we get off, waving them goodbye. As they sail off, we can see a Soa’n vessel emerging from a fog bank, about 2 miles away. We hope they will be okay for their sake as well as our own. We start climbing in regular party order, Brovar leading the way. Baka is not confident enough to continue looking thru Riele’s eyes as she climbs so she only does so as we rest, waiting for Gutboy to catch up.
Reaching the top, we find an area cleared of vegetation and the 150-foot long stone bridge, entwined with vines, arching high over the sea. The entrance is an arch, covered with carved dragons of exquisite design, partially eroded, with a similar arch at the other end. On the other side, we can see a large domed structured, easily as big as that which we saw in Gulumi. It is overgrown and surrounded by dense vegetation.
We use our skills to check out the bridge and believe it is in pretty good condition. Tripp and Sai Kyo throw their grappling hooks out in perfect unison and they link underneath and we make a double loop around the bridge. We tie it off and Sai Kyo goes across first, covered by the three of us with bows. He is tied to Lilrie who is tied back to the loop, just in case. He makes it to the other side without mishap and Lilrie is half-way across as well, but not concerned as the bridge seems very sturdy. We take the rope and the grappling hooks with us as the rest cross, taking a quick look at the arch on the other side which is similarly carved with dragons.
The vegetation is increasingly dense and colorful, with twisted tangles of vines. Progress to the dome will be slow and from this side it looks truly enormous. Digby and Sai Kyo look around and see no Soa’n footprints anywhere. Surprisingly there are no animal signs and Digby says that is because there is nothing here. “Listen”, he says and we do, but hear no sound of life at all. Spooky!
The dome itself is featureless, over 100-foot high and 200-foot across, and we cannot see any bands such as the dome in The Waste. We can see no vertical side at all – it is as if someone has dropped a sphere which has become half buried in the earth. It is covered by vines, but that is the only sign of life and we only hear the sound of the wind blowing thru the trees.
Baka ask Riele to scout the dome and she starts to fly around it anti-clockwise and and after coming full circle she sees no other buildings on the island. There is only one door, to the West, which is the only entrance, as the rest is all smooth wall. Tripp tries to climb, but his first foothold collapses on him and he falls back to the ground, a sheepish grin on his face. He tries again and once he is underway he makes good progress to the apex, finding no bands as there were on the other dome. Sai Kyo follows him and from the top we get a view of The Cinder engaged with another ship which is in flames. The Cinder is living up to her name, but there are three more Soa’n ships in the distance so we may not have a way off the island. The two scamper back down and we all go round to look at the door.
The door is large and impressive, intricately carved with writhing dragons. There is no visible lock, just two ring handles and strangely there is no growth anywhere on it. There are also no signs that it has been opened in the recent past. The dragon that we saw in Gulumi was 70 or 80 foot long with a 100-foot wingspan so might just fit in the dome, but it would be a tight fit. Tripp tries to detect traps but does not have any success. Brovar attaches a rope to the right door, steps back about 40-foot and pulls at the door opening it easily. Inside we can see a stone floor made of tiles, and immediately inside the door is circular pattern on the other side of which is another stone door which is set into another dome. Approaching closer it seems to be a simple geometric pattern of red and blue tiles. We can also see that the corridor is lit and runs off in either direction.
Tripp prods the pattern with a 10-foot pole and the tiles seem fixed. With care Tripp enters the corridor, avoiding standing on the patten. He can see that the corridor continues and strangely it is illuminated, as if he was holding a light. In the distance he can see another pattern which looks similar. Sai Kyo enters also, going South and he also sees a similar pattern on the floor. They avoid stepping on the patterns and Baka and Brovar join Sai Kyo, while Digby and Lilire join Tripp. The two parties go circle the inner dome finding 8 identical symbols with only one door, right back at the first entrance. The walls are completely smooth, with no decoration whatsoever. The inner door is also intricately carved with dragons, but has no rings and there is no obvious way to open it. Tripp detects traps and again doesn’t find any.
We prod the door with a 10-foot pole but it doesn’t move. Digby then leans onto it, but again it doesn’t give. His curiosity once again getting the better of him, Tripp stands on one of the patterns and it illuminates in red and instantly he is attacked by a fire elemental. The fire-bolt hits him for 26 damage and an E heat critical, stunning him for 2 rounds and doing 15 more damage. Lilrie and Digby run to help as Digby shouts to the others who start running to join them.
With Lilrie and Digby arriving to help Tripp, the next round starts with the fire elemental attacking Lilrie doing 12 damage and a C heat critical, putting her on 2 hits per round and on -20. Lilrie hits it with her morning star doing 28 damage, and 32 extra damage from the criticals. Digby swings his battle-axe in a wide arc for 23 damage and 4 more hits. The fire elemental targets Digby with a firebolt for 24 damage and an E heat critical, making him lose initiative and doing 5 more damage.
Digby swings again doing 32 damage and 5 more damage from the critical. Lilrie misses with her morning star and Tripp also misses as he is blasted by a fire bolt which does 28 damage, stunning him for two rounds and doing 12 more hits.
Sai Kyo drags a smoking Tripp out of the fight as Digby goes first again doing 73 damage and 8 more from the critical. Brovar is up next missing both with his long sword and his mace. Lilrie attacks, but misses again. Digby is the target of the fire elemental again taking 17 damage and a heat critical, losing initiative for 2 rounds and taking 5 more hits.
Brovar is up first this round, but misses with his long sword while his mace does 9 damage and 7 more damage, finally killing the fire elemental and at the same time the light on the pattern goes out. That was a tough fight and we need some time to recover as Digby lays hands on Lilrie which stops her bleeding. We decide to rest up overnight in the corridor and Lilrie brews up some healing potions using Reglen. She gives one to Digby, one to Tripp and Brovar and also heals herself once. The Forever Flask is still not full at the 48-hour mark. Luckily it is a quiet night, eerily quiet, the corridor remaining light all night. Riele is not keen on coming inside with us and stays in the trees for the night.
In the morning Sai Kyo climbs up to the top of the inner dome with no problem, but finds nothing more than perfectly rounded, smooth stone. As we wonder how to open the inner door Tripp and Digby go back to the arch and examine it in detail. They discover two diagrams which might be significant in entering the dome. One seems to give the number of the patterns in each ring that need to be activated to open the next door, and the other shows the direction in which to turn to count those patterns. Worryingly, there is a dragon drawn in the center of the latter, and we hope that it is purely decorative. Of course, nothing in this world is ever going to be simple, and three vital bits of information seem to be missing from the two carvings, scratched out by an unknown hand many centuries ago.
We work out that the first pattern to stand on is the one directly in the main entrance and we all surround it in case another elemental appears, and then Tripp stands on it. Immediately the pattern activates with a blue light and Tripp is held in a force field. As we move on to the next pattern indicated by the diagrams, we pass the location of the fight with the fire elemental and see a ring on the floor. Picking it up we can see that it is made of Ekrum metal inscribed beautifully with the wings of an Ekar hawk. Baka puts it on and we find that it doubles her power points.
Moving on Baka stands on the next pattern and she is also encased in a force field. Brovar stands on the third in the sequence with the same result and as Sai Kyo stands on the last Tripp shouts “the door’s open”. Immediately the force fields dissipate and when we join Tripp we can see into the next ring.
We follow the instructions on the diagrams on the second ring and the next door opens as expected. In the third ring Baka steps on the first, with the expected result, but this is where one of the diagrams is incomplete and we have to decide to turn right or left with nothing to aid our decision. We decide to go right and as Brovar stands on the first pattern it turns red and ice elemental appears and attacks him with an ice bolt for 10 damage and a B cold critical doing 4 more damage, and making him lose initiative for 2 rounds.
Sai Kyo attacks first and fails miserably to make contact. Digby hits it for 21 damage and 9 extra hits. Tripp fires into the melee, his first arrow doing 9 damage and 4 more hits, his second arrow doing 10 damage, and 6 more hits. The ice elemental fires an ice bolt at Digby doing 10 damage. Brovar does 6 damage with his long sword and his mace.
Next round Sai Kyo does 13 damage, but takes a cold critical, stunning him for 9 rounds! Serves him right for attacking with his hands. Let’s hope he remembers that for the next time he meets an elemental. Digby hits it again for 21 damage and 6 extra hits. Tripp’s first arrow hits for 18 damage total, his second arrow doing 20 damage total. The ice elemental hits Brovar with an ice bolt for 22 damage, knocking him down, putting him out of action for 3 rounds and doing 20 more damage. Lilrie stuffs a herb into Digby’s mouth, screaming “swallow this”, and he does so at once, becoming hasted for 3 rounds.
Sai Kyo tries stunned maneuver, but is unable to move, as he is on -90 from the stun. Digby’s first attack does 33 damage, for 10 more hits, and his second attack does 39 damage, for 9 more hits, shattering the elemental into ice. There is another Ekrum ring on the ground and examining it, it looks exactly the same. Lilrie puts it on and it doubles her spell points. Everyone hangs around for Sai Kyo to start moving again and then head in the other direction to complete this ring.
We decide to rest up again and Lilrie goes round the group healing Tripp, Brovar and Digby multiple times. She then checks the Forever Flask again and after 72 hours after its last use it is at last full. After resting we continue to the fourth ring, Baka standing on a pattern first, Sai Kyo next and then again, we are lacking vital information. We examine the puzzle details, but there are no clues as to which pattern to stand on next. Digby thinks it will be 7 so he goes to stand on there and the others surround him. It turns blue! Digby feels flushed with pride and Lilrie stands on the last pattern indicated and the door opens. We all let out a sigh of relief.
In the last ring Baka and Sai Kyo again stand on the first two, and then we have to guess once more. We think it is 4, 5 or 7, as the gap in the diagram is not as long as 8. But which of the three should we choose? Will we have to fight 3 elementals until we get it right? Brovar steps onto 5 and a fire elemental appears attacking him with a fire bolt doing 15 damage, blinding him with smoke, stunning him and making him unable to parry next round. Tripp fires his first arrow doing 11 damage and 7 extra damage, his second arrow does 28 damage and 7 more damage. The elemental attacks Tripp with a fire bolt, doing 20 damage giving him minor burns, forcing him to parry for 2 rounds, making him bleed at 2 hits per round and doing 9 more damage. Digby fumbles in a very badly executed move, stunning himself and he is unable to parry for 2 rounds. Lilrie chews a herb to haste herself as she attacks with her morning star. Her first attack does 15 damage and 8 more damage from a critical. Her second attack misses.
Tripp takes 2 more damage, as Brovar attacks, his long sword doing 13 damage and 5 more hits from a critical, while his mace misses. The elemental fire bolts Brovar doing 9 damage, forcing him to parry next round, and doing 6 more damage. Lilire’s her first attack does 10 damage, her second attack does 17 damage and 10 more hits from a critical. Digby removes his stun and does 31 damage, with 7 more from a critical.
Next round Lilrie’s first attack is a fumble, losing her grip, and her second attack misses. Tripp fumbles with his first arrow, stunning himself and he is unable to parry for 3 rounds. Somehow, he manages to fumble with his second arrow as well, breaking his bow string! To add to his misery, the fire elemental targets him with a fire bolt for 28 damage and 10 more hits from the critical, putting him on a total of 5 hits per round. Digby hits it for 24 damage and another 5 hits from the critical.
Brovar attacks first with his long sword doing 11 damage and 15 extra hits from the critical, and at last the elemental dissipates. These elementals are bad news! Luckily another Ekrum ring appears and Digby tries it finding that it gives him +15 OB. Excellent! Digby lays hands on himself to stop the bleeding and we all look despondently at the remaining patterns. We are not finished yet. 5 and 7 are remaining. Which do we go for next?
Kitty

• Session start – minus 80 gold!
• Income – none
• Expenses – none
• Session end – minus 80 gold!

Report Date

05 Jun 2021

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