Death in the Dragon's Lair

After defeating the Erutaki shaman, Tunuak, and his thrall, Naquun, the group discovered that Naquun had been possessed by a quasit. The tiny demon wriggled out of Naquun’s mouth, and began desperately trying to flitter away. Marie smacked it with her adamantine mace, but the blow bounced off, and Sawyer dealt a similar glancing blow with Suishen. Finally Sandoval swept his echoblade at the creature, and it fell lifeless to the ground.

With all their enemies dispatched, the group began to explore Tunuak’s secret lair. The slushy basin at the bottom of the ramp was filled with hundreds of bones, all marked with the familiar rune of a frost-rimed, three-fingered skeletal hand – the emblem of the demon-lord, Sithhud. A crude altar made from human skulls sat in one corner, and the icy walls of the pit were covered with surprisingly well-done paintings. One of the pictograms showed strange black standing stones rising from icy hills; one of the monoliths stood at the foot of a tall cliff, amid what looked like the broken walls of a village. Another displayed a cluster of towers glowing with a strange blue light, while a third shows a single monolithic tower rising above what seemed to be a black lake, with white mountain peaks behind it. A fourth pictogram depicted a spiraling storm with long arms ending in ice-fanged jaws devouring Erutaki villages, but with longer jaw-arms reaching toward forests, crudely drawn castles and cities, and what could be ships at sea. Warriors were shown trying to fight the storm with spears before being engulfed and sealed in tombs of ice. The final pictogram showed a blue-skinned woman with dark wings and hair, wearing a silver crown or circlet. Her hand grasped one of the claw-symbols like a scepter, and spiraling streaks of silver and white curled from it in every direction. The space beneath this painting was covered with densely scribbled writing in Erutaki runes.

The group immediately recognized the standing stones as being similar to the strange basalt monolith where they were attacked by the frozen dead. Zhustin believed the blue-limned towers represented the Nameless Spires, a fabled lost city at the north pole that, according to legend, predated even the rise of the Thassilonian Empire. He also believed the white mountains behind the solitary tower might be the Alabastrine Peaks, a mountain range deep within the arctic circle. And the fang-armed spirals could represent the morozkos, the hungry storms that now blocked their way.

Marie had begun to examine the grim altar, and she discovered that its base was littered with curved white shards, similar to ceramic. Zhustin turned his attention to these, and his hands began to shake. “These are fragments of white dragon egg shells!” It suddenly made sense why the dragon had begun attacking Iqualiat after all these decades. If Tunuak had destroyed her brood, she would be furious and unforgiving. But why would the shaman do such a thing to his own village?

They fetched Sonavut, figuring it would be easier to explain the deaths of the shaman and one of the village’s best hunters to her alone first, and then leave it to her to break the news to the rest of the village. She was shocked, but accepted the party’s story of what had happened. “I don’t know why Tunuak would have turned to demon worship, but it does explain some of his actions over the last couple of years.” They pointed out the writing on the wall, which none of them had been able to decipher. She translated, and it was a collection of almost embarrassing poetry, expressing an obsessive love for “Katiyana, who speaks to me on the winds from her tower in the Storm.” Sonavut had never heard of anyone or anything named Katiyana. She did confirm that their hunters had been reporting more and more of the strange monoliths appearing at odd places on the High Ice over the last few years, but they had no idea who or what was erecting them, or their purpose.

At last they returned to the village, and Sonavut informed the chief and the villagers of Tunuak’s betrayal. Their shock and grief was tempered by their relief that the party (or at least Nicki) had agreed to kill the dragon and find them food for the winter. The chief confided that the latter had been his biggest concern. “Since Vegsundvaag carried off most of our goats, even if she never attacks again, I don’t think my people will survive the rest of the winter.” Nicki started to point out that, thanks to the party’s actions, they now had two less mouths to feed, but Sawyer quickly shut him up. By this time, Ameiko, Sandru, and the rest had rejoined the group and been filled in on what had transpired. As the chief described the village’s plight, Sandru’s ears pricked up. “You know Chief, I’ve been hauling a big load of dried fish ever since we left Sandpoint. Fine southern fish, tasty and nutritious. They’d keep your people fed through the winter and beyond. Chief Nalvanaq was thrilled, but then he looked dejected. “I’m afraid our village is poor, and we have little coin to pay for such a bounty. I’m afraid all we could offer you are some furs and ivory.” He led Sandru to a nearby storehouse, and the merchant could hardly conceal his delight as the chief showed him bales of furs from rare arctic animals, and bushels of exquisitely carved ivory. “Um … I suppose that this is a time for generosity,” he stammered. “This will be fine.” The party tried to convince the chief to take the bog nuts as well, but after grinding some into a cup of goat’s milk tea, he decided that perhaps starvation wouldn’t be so bad a fate.

Starvation averted, that just left the dragon, and that led to considerable disagreement within the party. Sawyer, Bella, and Sandoval felt like seeking out the dragon in its lair was the stupidest thing they’d ever heard. “Just wait for it to come back here to attack again, then we can fight it on our own terms.” But others weren’t so sure. There was no guarantee when the dragon would return; in fact, she might wait for months to let the village suffer from starvation before returning to complete her vengeance. In addition, innocent villagers were likely die in the next attack, as they had before. Zhustin and Marie, felt they had no choice but to take it on before it attacked the village again. Nicki, whose rhetoric had gotten them into this bind in the first place, was unusually quiet. Ultimately, it was Ameiko who made the decision. “If we wait, we’ll be back to traveling during the high season, which is just what the Five Storms will be expecting. And we can’t let innocent people die just because it’s less dangerous for us.”

And so, whether determined or disgusted, they set out. The whole village turned out to see them off with cheers, and the Erutaki hunters drew straws to see who would have the honor of guiding them to the dragon’s lair (although the “winner” kept double checking to confirm that his straw was, in fact, shorter than the others’). Sonavut ceremoniously gave each of them a set of Claws of the Ice Bear, explaining that they would come in handy for climbing down into the dragon’s lair (and provoking another whispered argument about the wisdom or folly of this whole affair).

For the next two days, they traveled across the High Ice, a frozen expanse of wind-swept ice. Their local guide kept commenting on what beautiful weather they were having, but the party had never experienced such cold in their lives. Finally they came to a depression littered with broken chunks of ice the size of houses. “Vegsundvaag lives in a deep crevasse down there,” their guide explained, pointing forward. “Good luck!” He then began digging a hole in the ice in which to hide.

Moving cautiously forward, the group soon found themselves at the lip of a jagged hole in the ice. It led downwards into utter darkness, the dim polar twilight doing little to illuminate its unfathomable depths. The opening was barely five feet across, although it appeared to widen out some ways down. The far side was nearly 15’ lower than the ledge they stood on, and sloped down towards the opening; jumping across would be possible, but dangerous. They looked at the crude Claws Sonavut had given them, and quickly tossed them into their packs; no way would they try to make the descent using those things.

Another debate began. A few members of the party had means of flight, but not all. Climbing down on ropes was possible, but would the dragon hear them pounding in the pitons needed to anchor them? Should they try to sneak up on the dragon and attack it by surprise, or try to provoke it and attack as it squeezed through the narrow opening? Tiring of all this talking, Nicki cast Gaseous Form on himself and stepped off the edge, beginning to drift slowly down. Marie noticed Nicki leaving, and asked Shinjiro if he wanted her to cast Air Walk on him, but the monk was so engaged in the argument he didn’t hear her, so she shrugged and cast it on Zhustin instead. Then she cast Air Walk on herself, and began to follow Nicki. Zhustin, worrying that he shouldn’t just stay up here if they were going down the crevasse, quickly followed suit. The rest of the group looked up from their strategy discussion to discover that their two spellcasters and only healer had already disappeared into the dragon’s lair. Paralyzed by their fear of alerting the (hopefully) unsuspecting dragon, they could do nothing but peer over the edge as their comrades disappeared into the gloom below.

As the three descended, the darkness increased, with little light leaking down from the narrow opening high above. Zhustin cast a Light spell, hoping it wouldn’t give away their presence to the dragon. On the far side of the shaft, they could see an opening; Marie and Zhustin moved to investigate, while Nicki continued down, intent on plumbing the depths of this crevasse. The opening led into a small cave, with an odd pile of blocks of ice at the far end. Zhustin and Marie flew up to investigate, and found themselves looking down into a dragon’s nest. Its floor was littered with more smashed eggshells, along with a stone hammer. Picking among the remains, Zhustin discovered a talisman of remorhaz scales, identical to the one that had marked Ulf as an honorary citizen of Iqaliat. It was clear how the dragon had chosen the village as the focus of her wrath.

Marie decided she should let the others know what they’d found. As she began climbing back to the surface, Zhustin continued down, following Nicki who was now far below. On the opposite side of the chasm, another opening yawned, this one much larger. Zhustin hovered, torn between whether to wait for help from above, or to follow Nicki into the depths. Finally, he decided to check out the opening on his own. He landed on the ledge and began creeping into the cave beyond.

When the group at the top heard Marie’s report, they decided it was time to stop dawdling and move in in force. Sandoval cast Flame Arrow from his wand on everyone’s arrows while Bella rigged an elaborate harness on Marie’s back, and climbed into it like a papoose on her mother’s back. Sawyer simply wrapped his arms around Shinjiro and Sandoval, invoked Suishen’s Air Walk power, and they all started descending into the crevasse. They passed the nesting cave, and moved slowly towards the next opening Zhustin had found. On the opposite side, a little farther down, they could see yet another cave opening off the main shaft. Nicki was invisible in the darkness below.

Zhustin had crept stealthily (well, as stealthily as he could) into the opening. It soon opened out into a large cavern, but its dimensions were masked by a thick fog that made vision impossible beyond a few feet. Zhustin stopped frequently to listen, but heard nothing but his own pounding heart. He risked another Mage Light to illuminate his way, but it only reflected back the impenetrable fog. Suddenly, with muffled whoosh, he was engulfed in a blast of icy dragon’s breath and heard the scrape of giant claws on ice from the fog somewhere ahead. Suddenly realizing that exploring a dragon’s lair on his own had been an incredibly poor decision, he cast Dimension Door, and instantly transported to the lip of the passage leading to the nest cave. He saw the rest of the group in mid-air nearby, slowly descending. “Um, guys,” he said, teeth chattering, “I think I found the dragon.”

He pointed out the opening where he’d been attacked, and Marie began heading for it, casting a cure on Zhustin as she flew by. Sawyer also headed down with Sandoval and Shinjiro in tow, while Zhustin left his perch, following Marie. Sandoval began singing, and far, far below, Nicki heard the melody echoing faintly from above. Deciding that couldn’t be a good sign, he reversed course … slowly.

Vegsundvaag

But before anyone could go very far, they were startled by a crash from above. Shards of ice rained down as the white dragon, Vegsundvaag, burst out in all her glory. She apparently had a hidden escape tunnel, which she had concealed beneath a thin veneer of ice. With a mighty roar, she breathed down the crevasse, blasting everyone (except the distant Nicki) with a Cone of Cold.

Marie cast a quick Channel Positive Energy to do some healing on everyone nearby, then headed directly for the opening to the dragon’s lair. Bella tried shooting an arrow at the dragon, but found that drawing and firing a bow while strapped to someone’s back was nearly impossible. Her arrow fluttered end-over-end and fell harmlessly into the chasm, and she began desperately trying to disengage herself from her harness. Sawyer decided to head for the opening on the opposite side, not wanting to keep everyone bunched up together. He also, somewhat belatedly, activated Suishen’s Protection from Energy power.

Zhustin had been at the back of the party, where he’d felt safest after his recent brush with death. Now he found himself eye to eye with a white dragon, with all his allies rushing away as fast as they could go. He cast a pair of Scorching Rays that seared Vegsundvaag badly, then tried to join the general retreat. But the dragon, furious that her home had been invaded, was much faster than he was. She rushed down and focused her full rage on the poor wizard. Her jaws snapped shut just short of his face, but she raked him with both claws, then slammed him against the wall with as slap from her mighty tail. The sight of a dragon in full attack mode threatened to unnerve everyone in sight, but Marie’s sturdy presence reassured them, and they quickly recovered. Everyone who could began firing Flame Arrows at the dragon, only to see them bounce harmlessly off her scaly hide.

The party was at a distinct disadvantage: most of them were unable to fly, and they were facing an airborne enemy. Moreover, the party was split up, separated from each other by a bottomless pit. Shinjiro backed up into the new cave, looking for some way to attack the dragon, and discovered he was wading through ankle-deep coins – they’d discovered the dragon’s hoard! Grabbing handfuls  of coins, he rushed to the edge and threw them down the pit, yelling to attract the dragon’s attention, but she ignored him; she could easily collect them again while she was picking through their scattered remains soon enough.

Marie flew back to Zhustin’s side, casting a Cure Serious Wounds to keep him in the fight. Zhustin fired off another pair of Scorching Rays, and only served to infuriate Vegsundvaag even more. This time her jaws closed on the wizard, and she shook him like a puppy with a bone while raking him with her claws. He survived, but only just, and even another Cure Serious from Marie would not let him survive another attack from the dragon. He cast another Dimension Door, and disappeared from sight.

Sawyer, deciding that if he had this powerful ancestral sword maybe he ought to use it, abandoned his bow and charged the dragon with Suishen. He hit, but was jarred as the blow struck her mighty armor. Sandoval, with nothing better to do, began dancing his haka again, and to everyone’s surprise, Vegsundvaag appeared to be shaken by it (or maybe she was just shaking with laughter).

Nicki had finally reached the ledge leading to the dragon’s lair, and rematerialized. Focusing his power through his Rod of Empowerment, he cast an Empowered Fireball that exploded above the dragon. Its blast filled the narrow shaft, threatening to expand to engulf them all. Vegsundvaag was caught squarely, and her inherent vulnerability to fire did her in. She fell like a fiery meteor, down, down, down into the depths of the crevasse, until she hit with an explosion of sparks hundreds of feet below.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the dragon died. As they began to explore the caves, Marie called out for Zhustin. “Zhustin -  it’s OK. The dragon’s dead. You can come out now.” There was no response. Everyone exchanged worried looks, and began calling, louder. Then Sawyer noticed a thin stream of smoke emerging from the mouth of the dragon’s secret tunnel. He rushed upwards, and found Zhustin’s charred corpse lying at the lip of the opening. He had teleported to the apparent safety of the side passage, only to be caught in the backwash of Nicki’s immensely powerful Fireball. The young wizard was dead.

The PCs earned 2,658 XP for the night, putting them at 55,884 XP, with 75,000 required for level 9. We’ll be at Joette & Rich’s next week. After that, they will be gone for the following two weeks.