Copper for Your Thoughts?
In a metagame discussion, the group decided that though they had already rescued Condros and all-but retrieved the flying carpets, they also wanted to meet, visit, and warn the previously mentioned dragon.
The adventurers, Condros and Chrupus in tow, made their way across the midnight hills to a position as far away as possible from the goblins’ back entrance, while still keeping it in sight. They found out from Condros that the dragon was a Copper dragon. As they hiked, they tried to cover their tracks, which Dreneil and Eltana did effortlessly, but Erannar and Starq left slight signs of their passage. They settled into a bushy defile to catch some sleep, leaving the elves to divide the watch as usual. As usual, Erannar saw and heard nothing, but spent the time chatting with the nocturnal Chrupus about Coalburn the Copper dragon. He learned that she was a mischievous soul, a quality unappreciated by Chrupus. On the second watch, Dreneil noticed movement below her: six goblins were just giving up the search for the escaped prisoners and going home.
When everyone was awake, they continued to question Chrupus about the location of Coalburn’s lair. Everyone ate breakfast, and Erannar, Dreneil, and Starq decided to go hunting for the day. Between Dreneil and Starq, they caught enough food for the whole group. They also took naps in preparation for the night’s work.
That evening they watched the goblins, 25 strong, emerge from their settlement with the treasure cart. Piled on the cart along with the chests and bags were the 15 carpets of flying. Condros gave each party member a command word, and started calling the rest of them to come. The adventurers hopped onto their carpets as the confused goblins turned towards them and Condros wrestled Chrupus onto one of the carpets. They all sped north to Coalburn’s lair.
Erannar spotted a place matching Chrupus’s description: a hill beside a canyon, with stonework and a bridge at the entrance. Since it was not yet dawn, the group rested. They kept Chrupus on his carpet, 30 feet up in the air, since he had expressed no great desire to meet the dragon again and they were afraid he would escape if left alone. Chrupus crawled around his midair couch distractingly. Erannar suggested that he just roll up in it and go to sleep. To Erannar’s great amusement, he did, looking like a giant floating tootsie roll.
The next day, Starq spent some time thinking of some good jokes to tell Coalburn. He was interrupted by the sound of a foghorn coming from inside the cave. Soon, everyone flew into the dragon’s lair. The approach for non-flyers required crossing a stone slab bridge over a shallow canyon, then entering a large hole in the hillside flanked with carved walls and statues. Inside, a long tunnel continued straight ahead until heightening into a grand upward shaft. As they sped along, Starq called out in Draconic, “Hello! We come in peace!”
From above, the horn sound stopped and a strong voice boomed out in Draconic, “Hello! Come on up!”
As they flew up the misty shaft, they saw Coalburn, a large Copper dragon, sitting among scattered copper coins and blowing on a horn, from which proceeded the aforementioned mist. Coalburn greeted them again, and Starq immediately proceeded to warn her of the goblins’ treachery.
They switched to Common as everyone joined in the making of a few plans. The party succeeded in tickling Coalburn’s fancy immensely with the rolled-up and sleeping Chrupus. She spent the whole morning showing them her horn, which blew fog for atmosphere, her sculptures at the cave entrance, and her just-begun excavations of the hill behind her (visible from the upper open balcony which was Coalburn’s “bedroom”) to make a much grander hall. Starq cracked a few jokes. Condros made her a present of the largest flying carpet, which she wished to use to play pranks on visitors, in exchange for her good will toward the city of Culdin.
Finally, evening fell, and everybody settled down to make plans. Coalburn said that she wasn’t too worried about any attacks from the goblins. She could always destroy the bridge to her lair, hopefully with a few goblins on it. She also donated 10 magic arrows to Erannar’s quiver. Erannar suggested some reconnaissance work, so everyone hopped on their carpets to see how far the goblins had gotten. All evidence to the south showed that the goblins had already passed that way. They sighted the goblins instead in the north, beside the goblin settlement of Orentangy (previously mentioned by Chrupus). The spies reported back to Coalburn, who flew out herself to find that the goblins were sleeping – an oddity for the nocturnal race.
They went to sleep in the balcony area of Coalburn’s lair, putting Dreneil on watch at the lower entrance. At the end of her watch, she heard footfalls, many stealthy footfalls. She rushed to wake the others. Coalburn said, “Follow me!” and flew off her balcony, rushing around the hilltop and careening into the rock bridge before her front door, throwing 20 goblins into the canyon. One of the ranks of goblins was completely crushed in the fall, and the others, unfortunately lacking crossbows, set to climbing up the canyon wall. The other 20 goblins left on the mesa were in four ranks of five goblins each. The three crossbow ranks had been in the rear, and were on the side of the canyon opposite the lair’s entrance. One rank of morningstar-wielders had made it across and was just in front of the cave entrance.
Erannar rightly assumed the crossbows were the greatest threat, and trained his own longbow accordingly. Starq fired off magic missiles, and Dreneil dealt frosty destruction. Condros and Eltana let loose a half-dozen flaming spheres, which worked wonders on the goblin ranks.
The goblins seemed capable only of wounding themselves, as a flight of bolts aimed at Coalburn hit their friends in the canyon instead. The morningstar-wielders up top lowered ropes to their compatriots at the bottom, who were very ineffectually attempting to climb the stony, sandy walls.
Coalburn spit acid at the javelin and morningstar ranks in the canyon, completely wiping out two more of them. The crossbowmen finally got their act together and hit Dreneil, whom Coalburn immediately healed. The crossbowmen were mopped up, and the heroes turned their attention to the now-climbing morningstar groups. One was climbing out of the canyon, and the other was trying to climb over the lair’s flanking entrance walls to escape over the hills.
Coalburn disappeared into her cave, and returned shortly thereafter with a rod clutched in her claws. She called out, “Surrender, or I’ll use this on you!” The goblins, thoroughly disheartened, agreed to stop the offensive, return to their camp, and bring the tribute as usual. Later she explained that the rod was a Rod of Wonders; perhaps it was best she didn’t actually use it.
The heroes, with Condros, Chrupus, and Coalburn, flew off against the sunrise to the city of Culdin. There they exchanged the carpets and the good-will of Coalburn for much praise and 500 gold pieces each. Chrupus was set up as a night accountant at a bank. Erannar and Dreneil received commendation from their relatives for proving themselves as competent rangers. Condros and Starq went back to studying magic. Eltana resumed her nature walk with Blade. Everyone was happy; a little richer, slightly famous, and possessed of quite an interesting tale to tell, of a summer’s eve.
Experience Points:
Avoiding the Tracking Party: 150
Capturing the carpets: 40
Befriending Coalburn: 100
Warning Coalburn: 100
Reconnaissance: 60
Goblin Battle: 1000
Dénouement: 50
Total Experience Points: 1500
The adventurers, Condros and Chrupus in tow, made their way across the midnight hills to a position as far away as possible from the goblins’ back entrance, while still keeping it in sight. They found out from Condros that the dragon was a Copper dragon. As they hiked, they tried to cover their tracks, which Dreneil and Eltana did effortlessly, but Erannar and Starq left slight signs of their passage. They settled into a bushy defile to catch some sleep, leaving the elves to divide the watch as usual. As usual, Erannar saw and heard nothing, but spent the time chatting with the nocturnal Chrupus about Coalburn the Copper dragon. He learned that she was a mischievous soul, a quality unappreciated by Chrupus. On the second watch, Dreneil noticed movement below her: six goblins were just giving up the search for the escaped prisoners and going home.
When everyone was awake, they continued to question Chrupus about the location of Coalburn’s lair. Everyone ate breakfast, and Erannar, Dreneil, and Starq decided to go hunting for the day. Between Dreneil and Starq, they caught enough food for the whole group. They also took naps in preparation for the night’s work.
That evening they watched the goblins, 25 strong, emerge from their settlement with the treasure cart. Piled on the cart along with the chests and bags were the 15 carpets of flying. Condros gave each party member a command word, and started calling the rest of them to come. The adventurers hopped onto their carpets as the confused goblins turned towards them and Condros wrestled Chrupus onto one of the carpets. They all sped north to Coalburn’s lair.
Erannar spotted a place matching Chrupus’s description: a hill beside a canyon, with stonework and a bridge at the entrance. Since it was not yet dawn, the group rested. They kept Chrupus on his carpet, 30 feet up in the air, since he had expressed no great desire to meet the dragon again and they were afraid he would escape if left alone. Chrupus crawled around his midair couch distractingly. Erannar suggested that he just roll up in it and go to sleep. To Erannar’s great amusement, he did, looking like a giant floating tootsie roll.
The next day, Starq spent some time thinking of some good jokes to tell Coalburn. He was interrupted by the sound of a foghorn coming from inside the cave. Soon, everyone flew into the dragon’s lair. The approach for non-flyers required crossing a stone slab bridge over a shallow canyon, then entering a large hole in the hillside flanked with carved walls and statues. Inside, a long tunnel continued straight ahead until heightening into a grand upward shaft. As they sped along, Starq called out in Draconic, “Hello! We come in peace!”
From above, the horn sound stopped and a strong voice boomed out in Draconic, “Hello! Come on up!”
As they flew up the misty shaft, they saw Coalburn, a large Copper dragon, sitting among scattered copper coins and blowing on a horn, from which proceeded the aforementioned mist. Coalburn greeted them again, and Starq immediately proceeded to warn her of the goblins’ treachery.
They switched to Common as everyone joined in the making of a few plans. The party succeeded in tickling Coalburn’s fancy immensely with the rolled-up and sleeping Chrupus. She spent the whole morning showing them her horn, which blew fog for atmosphere, her sculptures at the cave entrance, and her just-begun excavations of the hill behind her (visible from the upper open balcony which was Coalburn’s “bedroom”) to make a much grander hall. Starq cracked a few jokes. Condros made her a present of the largest flying carpet, which she wished to use to play pranks on visitors, in exchange for her good will toward the city of Culdin.
Finally, evening fell, and everybody settled down to make plans. Coalburn said that she wasn’t too worried about any attacks from the goblins. She could always destroy the bridge to her lair, hopefully with a few goblins on it. She also donated 10 magic arrows to Erannar’s quiver. Erannar suggested some reconnaissance work, so everyone hopped on their carpets to see how far the goblins had gotten. All evidence to the south showed that the goblins had already passed that way. They sighted the goblins instead in the north, beside the goblin settlement of Orentangy (previously mentioned by Chrupus). The spies reported back to Coalburn, who flew out herself to find that the goblins were sleeping – an oddity for the nocturnal race.
They went to sleep in the balcony area of Coalburn’s lair, putting Dreneil on watch at the lower entrance. At the end of her watch, she heard footfalls, many stealthy footfalls. She rushed to wake the others. Coalburn said, “Follow me!” and flew off her balcony, rushing around the hilltop and careening into the rock bridge before her front door, throwing 20 goblins into the canyon. One of the ranks of goblins was completely crushed in the fall, and the others, unfortunately lacking crossbows, set to climbing up the canyon wall. The other 20 goblins left on the mesa were in four ranks of five goblins each. The three crossbow ranks had been in the rear, and were on the side of the canyon opposite the lair’s entrance. One rank of morningstar-wielders had made it across and was just in front of the cave entrance.
Erannar rightly assumed the crossbows were the greatest threat, and trained his own longbow accordingly. Starq fired off magic missiles, and Dreneil dealt frosty destruction. Condros and Eltana let loose a half-dozen flaming spheres, which worked wonders on the goblin ranks.
The goblins seemed capable only of wounding themselves, as a flight of bolts aimed at Coalburn hit their friends in the canyon instead. The morningstar-wielders up top lowered ropes to their compatriots at the bottom, who were very ineffectually attempting to climb the stony, sandy walls.
Coalburn spit acid at the javelin and morningstar ranks in the canyon, completely wiping out two more of them. The crossbowmen finally got their act together and hit Dreneil, whom Coalburn immediately healed. The crossbowmen were mopped up, and the heroes turned their attention to the now-climbing morningstar groups. One was climbing out of the canyon, and the other was trying to climb over the lair’s flanking entrance walls to escape over the hills.
Coalburn disappeared into her cave, and returned shortly thereafter with a rod clutched in her claws. She called out, “Surrender, or I’ll use this on you!” The goblins, thoroughly disheartened, agreed to stop the offensive, return to their camp, and bring the tribute as usual. Later she explained that the rod was a Rod of Wonders; perhaps it was best she didn’t actually use it.
The heroes, with Condros, Chrupus, and Coalburn, flew off against the sunrise to the city of Culdin. There they exchanged the carpets and the good-will of Coalburn for much praise and 500 gold pieces each. Chrupus was set up as a night accountant at a bank. Erannar and Dreneil received commendation from their relatives for proving themselves as competent rangers. Condros and Starq went back to studying magic. Eltana resumed her nature walk with Blade. Everyone was happy; a little richer, slightly famous, and possessed of quite an interesting tale to tell, of a summer’s eve.
Experience Points:
Avoiding the Tracking Party: 150
Capturing the carpets: 40
Befriending Coalburn: 100
Warning Coalburn: 100
Reconnaissance: 60
Goblin Battle: 1000
Dénouement: 50
Total Experience Points: 1500
posted by Captain Shar | 2:12 PM
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