Lunar: Magic Empire Session 83 Log ============================================================ Cast of Characters: Rune as "GM/Narrator, the bush, Dragon/Quark, ~Geint, ~Valina, ~Tarrant, and ~Arzel" Seath as "Earendil" GORN as "Rein" Hahn as "Kadan" Aes as "Valina" Mia Ausa as "Geint" SOLaike as "Tarrant" Dyne as "Arzel" Ayeye as "Ayeye" ============================================================ GMRune: --------game on--------- (Earendil's solo segment) GMRune: You appear out of the light from the White Dragon Wings to find yourself in the workroom on the top floor of T'lain's Spire. It was here that you had sent Ghaleon to the future. Now you see T'lain sitting at his desk, busily writing something, and the two dryads Lira and Seera are speaking nearby. There is no sign of your friends, but at least Liana and Elanor have reappeared with you. Earendil: T'lain! T'lain looks up with an expression of surprise. He rubs his head thoughtfully as he looks at Earendil. "Well, hello! You're a bit late." Earendil: Late? Where's the rest of the group? T'lain stands up. "Well, they were here just a short while ago, but they got tired of waiting for you. They figured something must have happened so they went out to seek help from one of the dragons." Earendil: Just great. I was delayed by one of the Dragons. Shea decided to test me just as I was leaving the Phoenix Cave. T'lain nods. "I see. Well, it was the dragon Shade that they flew off to see. Funny that, seeing that you have apparently just won her favor. The young one of your friends, Geint, said she knew the way to the cave, so everyone else followed. Valina was quite anxious to find you." Earendil: Oh I'm not surprised about that . . . I suppose I should go after them, but I have a favor to ask. T'lain: Yes? Earendil: Could you look after my sister and Liana? I don't think they are ready to go traveling about Lunar with us. T'lain nods his head. "All right. How do you propose to catch up with your friends?" Earendil: . . . That's a good question. I've never been to the black dragon cave, so the dragon wings won't help me. Earendil: Do you have any suggestions? T'lain: Well, it is possible for me to teleport you to the airship, no matter where it is. As long as your friends haven't gone too far you should be able to catch up with them. Earendil: You've been quite helpful to us, so I hate having to ask you this, but you don't have a silver light lying around, do you? Shea's test drained me. T'lain: Hm... I might. Just a second. T'lain opens a drawer from his desk and begins to dig around through it. T'lain pulls out a large silver bauble and tosses it towards Earendil. "Here's one. Use it wisely. Those things are difficult to come by these days." Earendil: Thank you. Earendil uses the silverlight. GMRune: Earendil gains 80 mp! Earendil looks at Elanor one more time and turns to T'lain. "Whenever you're ready." T'lain nods. "All right. Take care, young Dragonmaster." T'lain raises a hand solemnly and envelops Earendil in bright light. Earendil vanishes! (back to the rest of the party) GMRune: The party now stands outside the carefully concealed entrance to the black dragon's cave. Swaying in the powerful winds above them is the tethered airship built by T'lain. Rein tilts his head into the winds to keep his hair swept from his eyes. Ayeye goes to the entrance. "There are going to be lots of monsters, I know it..." Ayeye: Well, are we going to get going? Tarrant: I thought maybe a door? Ayeye taps her foot impatiently. Earendil bangs open the door of T'lain's ship. Earendil: If you want to go in there, be my guest, but I will not be joining you. GMRune: The party hears a familiar voice coming from the direction of the airship. Ayeye sighs. "You again..." Tarrant turns to the airship. Earendil: Well thank you for your enthusiasm. Earendil proceeds down the rope. Ayeye: You are welcome, and why will you not be joining us? Earendil: Because I have already passed Shea's test. Look at my armor. GMRune: The party can see that Earendil is now wearing the Black Dragon Armor. Rein raises an eyebrow. Ayeye: Oh, right... Earendil: Upon leaving the Phoenix cave, Shea sort of detoured me to somewhere. Ayeye crosses her arms indignantly. "Where to then, fearless leader?" Rein: How was she? Earendil: She's okay all things considered. Earendil looks at Ayeye. "Well, I had hoped we could go to Quark's cave." Tarrant: Well we can't stay here forever, let's get going. Rein nods. Ayeye: Fine. Ayeye: ...Why? Earendil: To uncurse the dragon helmet and shield. Ayeye: Oh... probably is a good idea... Ayeye picks up the bush and heads back to the airship. The bush rustles and sheds a few leaves. It seems anxious. Ayeye pets it to calm it. Earendil: Um, the White Dragon Wings can get us there much faster. ~Geint fidgets slightly. Ayeye: Err... yeah... right... forgot... sorry. What about the airship? Tarrant: Well, then I guess use the wings. Ayeye: But what about the airship? We cannot just leave it here. Earendil looks at the airship. "I suppose I could try to teleport it with us." Ayeye: The whole thing? Are you crazy? You cannot do that! I think... Earendil grins. "Well, I'll try anyway. Everybody get inside." Ayeye: Well... I mean... I am not the Dragonmaster... I do not know for sure... it is your power... Promise me you won't lose us in some weird black nether region, okay? Earendil looks at Ayeye evilly. Ayeye mumbles once again about how the goddess Althena must have been drunk when she choose the Dragonmaster. Earendil: Do I have to throw you inside the ship? ~Valina eagerly climbs back up the rope and into the airship. Ayeye climbs in. Earendil climps up the rope and goes inside the ship. Rein enters as well. GMRune: Kadan, Geint, and Arzel follow the rest of the party in. Earendil pulls out the wings. Earendil: All right, here we go. Earendil concentrates and wills the party to Quark's cave. GMRune: A bright light shines from the White Dragon Wings, growing with intensity as it strains to cover the whole length of the ship. Several moments pass in which you can sense nothing. GMRune: Then the land around you fades back into view to reveal the outside of Quark's cave. Ayeye: It worked! GMRune: You can feel the chilly air of the cave inside whirling outward to freeze your skin. Tarrant takes his robe and bundles up. Earendil: I had no doubts . . . o O(Actually, I was afraid that they would run out of juice half way there) Rein: Without those wings we'd probably be floundering in a bog somewhere about now. Earendil departs the ship. Ayeye follows Earendil out. GMRune: The inside of the cave is dark and forbidding, but it does not appear to be quite as hostile as before. Ayeye: Earendil, after you. Earendil grins at Ayeye and walks into the cave. Ayeye sticks her tongue out at Earendil. GMRune: The party follows Earendil into the cvae, which is as frigid as you remember. However, the layout of the cave appears to have changed, which is a good thing considering how confusing it was to go through it the last time. GMRune: The tunnel is long and narrow, and somewhat icy as well. But at least appears to be heading in a certain direction as it winds through the inside of the mountain. GMRune: After a time, you come across a division in your path. One way heads to the left, the other to the right. Earendil: Geint, do you know which way to go? Tarrant: Why can't dragons live in warm happy places like the Black Dragon Prairie or the Black Dragon Tropical Island... Ayeye shivers. "No idea, but at least the monsters seem to have cleared out." ~Geint shakes her head. "I've never see the cave this way before. It's like the time Canth changed his cave when he was testing you." Earendil: Well, you wouldn't exactly fear a dragon that sat outside in a bikini sunning itself all day. Earendil looks that the tunnels. "Kadan always says to go left, so we'll head right." Ayeye: I knew you were going to say that. You are too predictable. Earendil ignores Ayeye and proceeds down the right tunnel. Rein smies briefly. GMRune: As the party heads to the right they see it rapidly forms into a dead end. However, there appears to be a treasure chest encrusted in the ice of the floor. It's barely visible as a lump through all the ice, but the golden sheen of its frame is difficult to mistaken. Rein looks to Arzel. Tarrant peers through the ice at the treasure. GMRune: The chest is red with golden trim and appears to be stuck beneath some four to six inches of ice. Earendil: Arzel or Geint, would you care to melt the ice? ~Geint nods and steps forward. She sucks in a deep breath of air and proceeds to blow a large stream of fire at the ice above the chest. GMRune: The heat of the flames is a stark contrast to the frigid air around you, but the fire does its job, and slowly the ice begins to melt, forming a puddle near the party's feet. Ayeye stays out of the puddle. GMRune: Once there is barely any ice remaining, Geint stops her flame breath. The chest is now submerged in a rapidly cooling pool of water. Earendil accidentally splashes some water on Ayeye. Earendil: Oops, forgive me please. Earendil goes forwards and opens the chest. Tarrant stands by the side of the chest and tries to open it. Ayeye freezes the water Earendil is standing in. "Sorry, I slipped." GMRune: The chest opens to reveal a curious sort of cap with runes inscribed around its border. GMRune: Earendil's feet are frozen to the floor thanks to Ayeye. Earendil: No problem Ayeye, no problem at all. Earendil chips at the ice with his sword. Rein: Can anyone read that? Tarrant looks at the runes. Tarrant: Well it loosely says, "Bounty of the forest, given to the wielder of life. This in thine hands is ye Faerie Cap." Earendil continues chipping at the ice. "Well that's weird." Tarrant: They always are. Ayeye: Why is that? Tarrant: Why ask why... Ayeye: Err... because I want to know? Earendil: Well, let's just take the hat with us and move on. Earendil chips the last bit of ice away from his feet. GMRune: The party heads back the way they came and again runs across the division in the path. Earendil proceeds down the left path. GMRune: This path winds around again, taking you even deeper in the earth. The path is steep, leaving no doubt in your minds where you are heading. GMRune: When the path begins to level off, you begin to smell something awful and slimy up ahead. The scent is not recognizable, but it's unusual that you can smell it at all given the cold! GMRune: There is a squishing sound that comes from the darkness ahead of you and the smell grows stronger. Ayeye: I hope that sound is supposed to be there... GMRune: A group of enormous snails sludge into view. They wave their eyestalks in the direction of the party and with a disgusting squelching sound they head towards you! GMRune: --------combat-------- Earendil: Everybody, hold back. I want to try something. GMRune: targets: 5 escargoto in front Ayeye shivers more. "You would think they would freeze in here." Ayeye gives Earendil a curious look. "If you say so." GMRune: Ayeye defends GMRune: Kadan defends. GMRune: Geint defends. GMRune: Earendil casts Black Dragon Sadness! His Armor flashes with a blazing blackness. The darkness rises above him, coalescing into the smoky, ethereal form of Shade! The image of the black dragon keens, raising her head to the sky, and Earendil's enemies are surrounded by spheres or darkness! GMRune: The spheres whirl and spin towards the heavens, loosing themselves in the darkness near the ceiling of the cavern. When they are gone, there is nothing else of your enemies. GMRune: --------victory!--------- Ayeye: Neat trick! GMRune: The party earns 0 XP, 0 MEXP, and 0 S. Earendil: Finally, a useful spell. Rein inspects the ground where the snails were. GMRune: The ground is moist from their trail of slime, but other than that there is no trace of where they could have gone. Earendil: Well, let's keep going. Earendil walks down the tunnel. GMRune: The party heads down the tunnel, and before long it opens up to reveal a gigantic chamber. The air is especially cold here, and the ceiling is nowhere to be seen. Resting on an imposing ledge against the far side of the cavern is a white dragon. Unlike the other dragons you have seen, this one is quite obviously scaled on various patches of his body. He lowers his horned head to take a better look at you, and snorts a chill breath of frost in your general direction. Dragon: Well this is a surprise. I did not expect to see you back here so soon. Earendil: Well, I sort of ran into a problem. Earendil: I got the Dragon Helmet and Shield back but they've been cursed. Dragon: Indeed. By the way, I don't believe we have ever formally met, you and I. At least, not quite as it should have been. The dragon leans forward, propping himself up with his forelimbs as he lifts his head out on his long neck to take a better look at Earendil's equipment. Rein stands back, a little stiff. Earendil: Oh, that's right. My apologies. Earendil puts the Dragon Helmet and Shield on the ground before him. The dragon flares his nostrils slightly. "I am Quark, as you may know from my friend, Geint, over there. And I know you are Earendil. Now tell me, what makes you believe that you can be Dragomaster after failing to protect your own equipment?" Quark lifts a taloned hand and gestures. The Blue Dragon Helmet and Red Dragon Shield shine white in reponse to his magic. Earendil: Because the other dragons believe in me and I believe in myself. Quark chuckles. "I see Shade has gotten to you." He inclines his head towards Earendil. "And if that belief is strong I believe you just might succeed." Earendil: It was a rather hard lesson to learn. GMRune: The light fades from the Helmet and Shield, and both appear to have been restored to their original glory. Earendil picks up the Helmet and Shield and equips them. "Thank you." Quark: That it may have been, but it was necessary. A Dragonmaster must be master both within and without. And you are welcome. Quark: Now that you have all the pieces of the Dragon armor collected, you must head for the Goddess Tower. I sense Althena is in danger, and I know the other dragons can as well. Something has happened and the group of you must get to her as soon as possible! Rein 's face clouds. Earendil nods his head. Quark: I would come and help you myself, but... there are slight complications. The obvious presense of a dragon with you would attract the warlocks attention, and you'll need all the stealth you can get. Ayeye steps forward. "Can the wings take us there?" Earendil shakes his head. "We've never been there before, so they can't." Ayeye: Oh... Earendil: Besides, we need to stop somewhere first and recharge our supplies and energy. Earendil: Vane is close to the Goddess Tower. Rein: And flying in on the airship probably wouldn't be exactly "stealthy". Earendil: Actually, there maybe no other way to get to the tower. From what little I have seen of it, the sides of the mountain it's on are too steep. Rein: Hmm... no one will miss us flying in, though. Earendil: Oh well, that can't be helped. Rein nods. Earendil: I can bring the ship somewhat outside of Vane, then we can go get supplies. Quark appears to fidget slightly in the background during the discussion. Earendil looks at quark and then back at the group. "I suppose we should get going." Quark: I can teleport you back outside to your ship. Save you the walk, as it were. Just give me a moment to speak to Geint. Earendil: Of course. Quark motions Geint aside from the party and speaks to her in low tones. His voice is whispered and soft for a being of his size and you cannot understand what he is saying. After he is done, Quark seems much more resigned than he was before. Quark does not speak to you again, but merely lifts his head once he is finished. With another gesture of his claws he sends the party from the cave. You all reappear outside by the airship. Earendil heads up into the ship. GMRune: The party follows Earendil inside. Earendil holds up the wings and wills the ship to relatively safe distance away from Vane. GMRune: The Wings shine brightly again, and shudder slightly. The teleportation again takes much longer that an ordinary transportation would, but nonetheless you emerge to find yourself to the south of Vane, just barely in sight of the town. To the west, the Goddess Tower is shining with a strange light. Earendil opens the door. "Anybody coming with me? ~Geint nods mutely and heads over to the door. Rein follows. Earendil departs the ship and starts walking toward Vane. Ayeye picks up the bush and dashes toward Vane. "Hurry up Earendil!" The bush pants, tongue lolling out of its mouth as Ayeye kicks up a quite cartoonish dirt cloud behind her. Ayeye stops and waits for the rest to catch up. "Come on guys, we have a world to save!" Rein trots along behind. GMRune: Arzel, Geint, Kadan, and Valina follow along after Ayeye. ~Valina grabs Earendil and pulls him along too. ~Tarrant follows as well. GMRune: After a short time of walking, Vane becomes larger and more real. It feels like ages since you have last been here, yet the mid-sized town still looks as homey as it did before (except that Tarrant's house is quite noticeably gone and that House Erde now occupies House Magus's old digs in the Silver and Crystal Spires). Ayeye wanders around. "Supplies... supplies... I wonder exactly what that means..." Earendil: Lots of MP restoratives. Ayeye: You plan on using a lot of magic then? GMRune: There are three shops in Vane; one for weapons, another for armor, and a third for supplies. But it is not likely that the weapons and armor stock has changed much since all the fuss with House Erde and later Yegaar. Earendil: The dragons spells drain a lot. Earendil heads for the supply shop. GMRune: Inside Earendil is greeted by a clerk. Clerk: My, you look like a most impressive customer! Haven't you been here before? Earendil: Perhaps. I travel a lot. Clerk: Well, here are the supplies I have to offer. You know, it's strange, but with the Goddess Tower lighting up and all, there's been a profusion of mystical herbs growing about. They're still rare of course, but not so rare that they can't be sold! GMRune: Calm Herb Heal 250 HP 200 S GMRune: Herb of Althena Heal All HP, All Party 400 S GMRune: Laurel Leaf Heal 120 HP 90 S GMRune: Seed of Vigor Heal All MP 500 S GMRune: Silverlight Heal 80 MP 100 S Clerk: So, do you see anything you would like? Earendil: I'll take 5 silverlights and a Laurel Leaf. Clerk: All right. That is 590 S. The clerk looks at the other party members. "Anything else?" Ayeye shakes her head, "I don't want anything." Earendil: We might as well spend all our money, it doesn't do any good to save it if we can't go shopping again. ~Rein: We can come back tomorrow if anyone changes their mind. Ayeye: Then you spend it, I do not know what to buy. Earendil: Get an Herb of Althena, you're the fastest one in the party, so you can heal us the quickest. Ayeye: Fine. Ayeye turns to the clerk. "One Herb of Althena." Clerk: All right. That's 400 S. The clerk hands Ayeye her herb. The bush smacks its "lips" upon seeing the herb. Ayeye hands him the silver and takes the herb. "Thank you!" Earendil: Tarrant? ~Tarrant does not appear to be paying attention right now. Earendil: Oh well, I guess we'll come back tomorrow. ~Arzel nods as he heads out the door. "We can sleep at my place for the night." Earendil: Great. GMRune: The party heads over to Arzel's place and crash there for the night. GMRune: ----------end session---------