Tricking a Dragon

“Tricking a Dragon”
Rise of the Runelords episode
Episode no.	Episode 66
Date	2009
Game Master	Abbe
Characters	Gloriana Honeypot Nell Velicia
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Return of Ironbriar" "Tirana"
Rise of the Runelords chapter list

In this chapter the heroes encounter a dragon and cultists.

Tricking a Dragon

Early the next morning after eating breakfast at the Rusty Dragon we returned to the underground complex from Sandpoint. I thought of Kaven and hoped he didn't get into trouble but would stay at the inn.

We looked closer into a room next to the teleport gate that we had used. It was a small room with a round pool in it. On the walls of the pool were cherubs. I looked closer at it and found a small key hole between the cherubs. I took out the small key encased in amber I had found in the magical laboratory and saw that it would probably fit. There was some discussion about how to get the key out but in the end I took out my tools and carefully broke the amber apart, freeing the key. It did fit and when I turned the key the water in the pool swirled and rose up. Honeypot put her head in the water and told us using our telepathy she could see other places. Then the others took turns looking at different parts of the underground complex. I got bored, though. At last Gloriana said that there was a ritual opening gates to some infernal place and that we should get there to stop them, so we left.

The room with falling swords.

We entered into a large cave with a small lake, a cliff creating a small island, a bridge leading to it and a small rowboat. I noted a small side passage that was hard to see. I sneaked through it and saw a room where swords were falling from the roof all the time. In the middle of the room there stood a strange figure. Honeypot who had brought the light was suddenly compelled to walk into the room. A fight broke out and Velicia ran in and teleported it and herself out into the big cave. Several attacks wared it down but it turned into smoke and drifted back into the room. My suggestion to leave the monster in there was met by a comment by Velicia:
"I want that sword!" meaning the one wielded by the creature.
We renewed our attacks and soon it was killed and I pulled out the sword from the dangerous room where swords was still falling. Velicia was very anxious to get it. The falling swords had wounded some of us so we paused on the beach to recover our strength.

I hadn't been wounded so I looked around while the other barbecued some meat on the beach. There was an old bridge with rotten planks leading out to a small rock jutting out of the small underground lake. The beams still looked stable so I balanced on them. Honeypot suggested that there would be something hidden out there, otherwise the bridge wouldn't have been built, but I couldn't find anything. Standing on top of it looking out over the water I saw the effects created by the water elementals we suspected from looking through the pond earlier, but I also noted that at the bottom of the lake there was a small black dragon hiding.

Black dragon raising out of the water.

I joined the others eating and then we discussed how we should cross the small lake. I suggested we should pretend to be cultists as the ones Gloriana had seen. She described them as dressed in black cloaks so retreating from the edge of the water we all tried to dress like the cultists, which was easy for Honeypot using her hat of disguise. Then we sat out rowing the small boat across. The dragon rose from the water, towering over the side of the boat almost reaching the same height as Velicia. Honeypot told it we were cultists late for the ritual and that it should let us through. She almost convinced me that it was true but It turned out the dragon had heard our plan and wasn't convinced. Somehow we still had impressed it so while water elementals gathered around the boat wanting to attack we talked to the dragon. It wasn't really tricked but still impressed and let us through. During the discussion I couldn't help but noting that it was somehow held back. I suspected that it might have something to do with Tirana and her magic that could control people and if we killed Tirana the dragon might not be as cooperative if we met again.

Beyond the lake there was a new room where strange, green, slimy water crossed the room. We recognized it as from the control room with the tentacle monster. I jumped over it and we found stairs going up. Velicia had seen a room with steel floor behind the double doors in front of us. In the room there were three pillars, each with a lever, in each end of the T-shaped room. Velicia tried to pull the lever that was on the pillar next to us. It was locked in place. I suggested pulling all three at the same time would unlock them. We all stood near the entrance as Honeypot pulled the closest and Velicia and Gloriana pulled the other two from a distance using their magical hands. Walls of fire and several burning elementals appeared but we also heard the double door at the far end of the room unlock. We defeated the fiery creatures and continued into a room in which Velicia had seen a jelly.

That was a creature that would engulf its victims and devour them with acid. It was in a pit in the floor covered by grating. We ran through the room and into the next where cultists were opening a rift to some kind of hell in the floor and a devil hung mid air above it. I quickly threw my dagger and killed two cultists and were attacked by a third. Velicia felled it and Gloriana another. We then destroyed the demon quicker than I would have thought. We had closed the doors we entered through but the ocher jelly sipped in through the slit below the door and attacked us grabbing Velicia. The two last cultists ran to a door screaming;
"Release the prisoner!"
Honeypot kept up and tripped them making them fall back out into the room we still fought in. The huge jelly engulfed them and we destroyed several small bits of the jelly attacking us separately. The huge mass of jelly grabbed the bodies of the dead cultists and retreated.