The Doors

September 13th - 14th, Albanus 1.

When the party awoke in the Dearthwood, Marius announced that Legis had blessed him, and that the prayer of sending was now within his power.  Finally able to communicate with their friends, the band gave one sending each day as they travelled north.

The first day they contacted Clarissa Benobles.  "Those who helped you one night over a wall concerned about your whereabouts. Please advise your location and condition."  The noblewoman's response was disturbing:  "White Swan.  Captain Patinus.  I made a terrible mistake.  House in Lunula [an independent island between Rostilla and Dulsanius;  apparently where her father hid her] compromised.  Hired boat to Verchmai.  No longer trust captain.  We are north of Sobel Ka.  Have received false sendings."  The next day the party asked for more information.  Clarissa told them, "Two days north of Sobel Ka.  Captain has sent our destination to someone.  He speaks Rostillan in public, Viridian when sending.  Believe we are still heading towards Verchmai."  With this information, Marius contacted Abbess Halaessa to warn her, and to set up a password for future communications.  The priestess replied that the Count had a court magus and teleportation scrolls -- a party from Benobles could be in Verchmai before the White Swan arrived, and be ready to rescue Lady Clarissa.  The troop decided to let Benobles handle this, and turned their attention to their own struggles.

On the fourth day in the forest, Marius contacted Count Satus Molossus.  "Message from grandson who stole his father's horse and the mare pulled up lame. All future sendings with 'lame'. You are watched by invisible imps. Caution. Give no sign you know."  Unlike Clarissa, grandfather Molossus passed on cheerful news.  "Glad you are well.  Riots in city over disappearance of paladin.  Lacking General Corresanti, troops over-reacted.  Many dead, great murmurings amongst the commoners even now.  Much discontent.  My love."

Unfortunately, the sendings weren't one-way:  the party began to receive messages from a very irate aunt Surilla.  That same day, Marius heard his aunt's voice in his head saying, "Dear what's-your-name.  Terrible news.  Acolyte at Logos got careless with lamp, resulting fire burned hundreds of rare texts.  Sloppy of Micarius to let protections lapse."  Marius said nothing in reply.  Severus sniffed that if that was the worst revenge Surilla could inflict, she was pretty pathetic.

On their last day under the Dearthwood's leafy shield, the band sent a message to Grand Master Tinnius.  "Marius here. All future Surrexi sendings will use word 'Lillendi'. Daciens safe, heading away from Rostilla. His 'sense evil' compromised. They have method to make good appear evil."  Tinnius responded, "Cassius informs me of riots in Rostilla.  Awaiting elvish tracker;  Sandarfon believes he can get us through Lanshar [the gap through the Ered Helain into Surrexus] unseen.  Will leave for Invictus once tracker here, perhaps ten days."

September 13th found the band on the edges of the Dearthwood.  Ahead of them lay the Lunuli Hills, the foothills of the Ered Bardain.  Getting to Corresanti meant four days of travel through these lands, which were nowheres near as thickly wooded as the Dearthwood.  But their luck held.  The rain and wind died away, allowing the Lunuli birches to hold onto their autumn leaves a bit longer.  The first morning was the worst for they had to ford the Rogatus River, totally exposed.  But apparently the griffon riders did not know where to seek them, for the sky overhead remained clear.

Gaius received the next sending, as the party was drying itself off on the Rogatus' northern bank.  "Sad news, duckling," Surilla told him.  "Some horrid ruffian attacked your grandfather, for reasons no one can fathom.  Condolences.  Oh, and tell Severus I will find her.  Eventually."

Worried that their grandfather was dead, Marius sent to aunt Dola, one of the priestesses of Crescens in Molossus.  He told her of Surilla's comments and asked her to check on grandfather.  Dola's response was emphatic.  "Cookies!  [The new Molossus password.]  DO NOT COME TO MOLOSSUS!  Griffon squad here, awaiting you.  Another squad sent someplace, don't know where.  Am forbidden to send, but will find way to do so."  Later that evening, after a fireless meal, Dola contacted Gaius.  "Father alive, but badly wounded.  Incoherant with pain, fears duplicity.  Shouted at me that he refused my prayers and healing.  Believe he will live.  Will keep checking on him for change."  From this, the party deduced that their grandfather was confused (and perhaps dosed with poppy's milk) and trying to resist all spells that might be cast upon him.

The next day it was Leyna's turn for a message, as the party continued north through the warm, sunny afternoon.  "You were the hard one, sweetling, but I worked something out.  Let's see if you can guess what's wrong.  Though it will be sooo much more fun if you can't."  Like Gaius and Marius, Leyna said nothing in reply.  Marius sent at once to Pontifex Aldus, warning him that Surilla had threatened the General, and that he should watch for evil dreams, other threats, and prepare to dispel evil.  The threat, they said, could be on-going, or focused on tonight.  Aldus returned, "Password received.  Tell the Lady Leyna she has nothing to worry about!  I will watch the General personally.  I check him regularly for spells.  Her father is in the best hands!"

Around midnight, as Corvina kept watch, odd "clouds" boiled up, obscuring the full moon that hung over the hills to the north-east.  Corvina roused her family, and Gaius said that it was smoke, not clouds.  Coming from a valley which led to the little village of Tannus, in the county of Humilior, about five miles north-east of them.  Intrigued but suspicious, the band packed up and headed north.  The mages sent their familiars on ahead, and Tenebrus and Brennus soon returned with alarming news.  They'd seen a dragon flying north.  Red.  Larger than the one that attacked them on the boat.  Much larger!  Brennus sent Severus an image of the creature crushing a house beneath itself.  The band continued more cautiously, hoping to find survivors.  When they were about half a mile from the town, Gaius cold-cocked General Corresanti and went to scout.

It didn't look good.  Fires burned in and around the town; several farmhouses had been crushed.  Burned bodies lay scattered about the commons.  There were four red dragons, the size of large dogs, on the roof of one building.  They scampered about, apparently trying to dig their way inside.  Two bigger ones sat upon another house which was beginning to burn fiercely.  From overhead, Tenebrus and Brennus added a further detail:  the town's barn was open, and there were four more small dragons feasting on dead cows within.  Knowing a bit about dragons, the party deduced that the dragon who flew off was the mother of this lot.  Chromatic dragons (the evil type) typically keep their young near for a few years.  Once they're old enough to fend for themselves, the mother escorts them to a good food supply and abandons them to their own devices.  Any that follow her home are, generally, eaten.  The little dragons were probably her clutch -- though ten was an enormous brood.  The number of eggs a dragon laid depended on her age.  New mothers laid only two;  ten was about the maximum size.

The band left the horses with Catarina and Marcus the Urchin (who had previously confessed that his true name was 'Talisar' -- which was a dumb name, because it didn't end in -us like all real names).  Then they approached the town, scuttling up behind the crushed buildings to stay out of the dragons' sight.  Titus had cut himself a lance.  And as they approached Tannus he spotted one of the little reds in the barn.  Just standing there, gorging on dead cow.  Oblivious to him, and just begging to be charged.  So Titus and Sinister obliged it.  They tore through the center of town, drawing the attention of all the littlest dragons (the two horse-sized ones were still focused on their building).  Titus' blow was true.  The lance struck the dragon, with all the weight of Sinister behind it, and slammed it into the barn wall.  To the party's dismay, however, this didn't kill the creature.  Reds, even the littlest ones, were apparently damned tough.

The four dragons in the barn all rounded on Titus and Sinister.  Leyna and young Sir Daciens charged the four outside, while Severus, Corvina, and Gaius hung back a bit.  Corvina shifted into an annis hag, with tough skin.  Unfortunately the noise of this brawl caught the attention of the two alphas as well.  Severus (made invisible by Corvina) threw a rock into a nearby pond, and both of the big dragons flew over to investigate.  But at that point, another complication arose.  The two big dragons had been sitting on a burning house.  As they flew off, the door suddenly burst open.  A man ran out, yelling wildly, and charged north.  A second later, several other figures slipped out:  two teenaged girls, and a woman who carried a little boy and an infant.  These people ran south, silently, as the dragons turned their attention to the screaming man.

Clearly, Gaius thought, this man was trying to distract the dragons and buy his family time to escape.  Equally clearly, he was a dead man walking;  the dragons would snap his head off in one bite.  And so, with great reluctance and visible pain, Gaius chose to be a hero.  He shot one of the two hovering alphas, drawing its attention from the man to himself.

Severus, on the other hand, wasn't ready to sign up for Heroics 101 quite yet.  He chanted and summoned an illusion of a bejewelled woman who ran shrieking down the street of the town.  Both of the alphas pounced upon her at once.  Unfortunately, as they did, their claws passed through her and they realized that this was an illusion.  Severus then cast ventriloquism and tried to salvage the situation by having the illusion say in draconic, "Hah!  My incorporeality spell will protect me from you!"  Puzzled, the alphas were oblivious to the farmer, who recognized a good thing when he saw it and ran off to join his family.

Back in the center of town, the battles raged.  Titus and Sinister managed to dispatch the wounded dragon, but the others were quickly chewing the paladin down.  Even the little dragons breathed fire.  Leyna managed to lop off the head of one that breathed down from the roof.  But Daciens, beside her, was nearly gutted by another, and after the first wave of breaths swept over them, the young paladin was nearly dead.

Things were looking grim for the home team...

Titus wounded another dragon and Sinister kicked its head in.  This pattern continued all night long.  Sinister actually delivered more death-blows than any other party member, dispatching 5 dragons -- fully half of the entire brood -- over the evening.  

     [OOC joke:

     Severus (to Titus):  Dude, your horse just stole your kill again!

     Titus:  We killed it, together.  There is no "I" in team.

     Severus:  Yeah, but there are a lot of "I"s in 'Sinister'...]

Leyna pivoted and neatly decapitated another dragon, then tried unsuccessfully to shield Daciens.  The young knight struck bravely at the dragon attacking him, determined to die honorably.  But when General Corresanti's sword struck drew blood, the creature squealed and began snapping about blindly.  When he realized that for some reason the dragon was blind, Daciens -- showing incredible sense for a paladin -- retreated and staggered around the rubble to a safe spot where Corvina could patch him back together.

Recognizing the better part of valor, Titus retreated out of the barn and rode back for healing.  The two barn-dragons charged, however, and continued to tear at him.  Gaius dispatched one -- leaving only five dragons still alive.  But just when it looked like the party might survive, one of the alphas lost interest in Severus' illusion and flew to a rooftop.  There it peered down over the grand melee in front of it, where most of the party was gathered... just perfect for a nice breath attack.

Severus cast another ventriloquism spell and said, in a voice he hoped would sound like the mother dragon, "Look closely.  There is something hidden here.  Find the token, bring it to me, and you will win."  The dragon did exactly that... but to Severus' dismay, the monster's keen-eyed gaze focused on him.  Dragons' senses are legendary, and apparently the alpha decided that the invisible rogue was the "something" his mother wanted retrieved.

Severus (who had cast expeditious retreat upon himself) sprinted off around a building.  The dragon launched itself into the air to follow, whereupon Tenebrus swooped in to deliver a chill touch from Corvina.  One snap of the dragon's jaws nearly killed the raven, but he did delay the dragon for a moment.  Long enough to let Severus cast rope trick.  One last ventriloquism to the other alpha (which was still playing with the illusion):  "Your brother has the token.  You will lose if you do not bring it to me."  Then, as the nearest alpha landed on the roof above him, Severus dropped a dagger on the ground and slipped into his pocket dimension, closing the door behind him.

Back in the center of town, the band finished off the remaining small dragons.  Leyna killed one.  Another managed to charge Gaius and take a chunk out of his thigh.  But as Corvina spat acid and Gaius retreated for another shot, Titus and Sinister killed it, and its twin.  Now there were only two dragons remaining.  But they were the largest ones.  And the party was badly injured.

Titus tried to leap onto the house where one dragon lurked.  But he missed his footing slightly, and before he could charge, the dragon leaped down to the ground and snatched up the dagger Severus had dropped.  His brother swooped in, slashing him once as he flew off to return this "token" to his mother.  As the rest of the party ran up, Titus rushed across the roof and threw himself onto the dragon's back, trying to impale it with his flaming greatsword.

The results were spectacular.  The sword drove completely through the dragon's shoulder, wounding it grievously.  But it didn't die.  Its serpentine head whipped around and its jaws closed over the paladin's head.  With a snap it sent Titus slamming into the farmhouse... and the paladin slid to the ground, unconscious.  Leyna rushed forward and stabbed it again.  Then beside her, Sinister screamed in rage and charged.  The warhorse knocked the dragon down and trampled it to death.  As the others ran to help Titus, Sinister continued to tap-dance on the dragon's corpse.  Leyna shielded her knight as best she could, then Tenebrus fluttered down onto Titus' shoulder to deliver a healing from Corvina that stopped Titus' downward spiral.  Marius scrambled up a moment later and managed to rouse his brother.  But Titus was maimed;  the muscles around his upper body were too badly torn to be healed with normal prayers.

One problem remained.  The last alpha was retreating into the distance, carrying his prize.  And if he made it back to his mother, she might well return -- and she was a threat the party couldn't dream of killing.  Grabbing their bows, the party lobbed arrow after arrow.  Just when it was about to vanish in the night's gloom, Gaius put one last arrow into it and brought it crashing into the forest below.