Far Isles Session #93 - The Dragon Whisperer

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 7)
Awg Wahmn (Calmonari 7)
Chaff (Vivimancer 7), with familiar Pretty Bird
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 7), with familiar Hermes

The party opted to check what lay beyond the door before proceeding further. It opened into a larger room with multiple alcoves around the perimeter. In the centre of the room was another statue. This one was curiously coated in some sort of a thick transparent layer of stuff. The statue itself appeared to depict the same man or creature as the other three, but in this case the depiction showed a less-heroic and more care-worn figure.  Examining floor before anyone stepped into the room, Kwinsea discovered it was cut into a grid of squares, no more then a finger's width across. She pushed down on the floor with a pole, then with a boot on a pole, to see if anything happened. Nothing did, but they were still wary of walking across the floor. So Awg tossed a rope and grappling hook across to the statue, and then used the levitation power of his/her cutlass to cross the room. Once at the statue, the calmonari sliced off a few slabs of the clear material, which proved to be jellylike in consistency. Finding nothing else of interest about the statue or the room, he returned as he came and the party moved on. 

Interested in filling the gaps on their map, the party made their way back through the teleporters until they came to the room with the clear tube (which they had cut off). There was a large blank spot on the map just north of this room. Awg hauled out the crystal cutter with plans to slice through the north wall; however, nothing happened when he/she pulled the starter chain. It would seem it had run out of charges or power. Disappointed, the party resigned themselves to leaving the map space blank and instead headed back into the perimeter corridor to explore further. They found nothing of interest until they'd made it halfway around the circumference of the egg. Here, 180 degrees from their original entry chamber, was another almost identical room. In this case the tube entered through the east wall rather than dropping down from the lightning field. Of perhaps more immediate interest was the inhabitant of the room; curled around the end of the tube was a small blue dragon. It showed no sign of having seen the party, and in fact appeared to be asleep. 

Xithanilix the Dragon

The party pulled back into the corridor to discuss what to do next. While it was tempting to take advantage of the snoozing serpent and attack, they realized they'd be in trouble if they weren't successful with their first blows. And maybe the dragon could be bargained with; maybe it had information of interest to the party. In they end they decided to try talking. Rodrigo volunteered to be the negotiator, while the rest of the party took up positions in the corridor to provide support if necessary. After prepping with a potion of haste, potion of lightning resistance and the  gloves of dexterity borrowed from Kwinsea, the swashbuckler strode into the room. Rodrigo cleared his throat (loudly) several times until the beast awoke. It was startled at first, drawing back from the human intruder  until it cleared the sleep from it's brain. It then spread it's wings and arched it's neck towards Rodrigo, and in a whispering voice demanded to know who he was and what he wanted. With great obsequious, Rodrigo explained they were merely searching for information, specifically about Empyrius. The dragon did not know the name, and became highly insulted and agitated when Rodrigo suggested the beasts master might know more. The dragon Xithanilix knows no master! With proper grovelling, Rodrgio placated Xithanilix and over time learned the dragon had gotten into the egg when quite young and was now unable to leave due to it's size. And she was much interested in leaving. 

Rodrigo took his leave, and rejoined the party to discuss what they could do. Meanwhile, Xithanilix had taken wing and risen into the lighting field to keep an eye on them all. Chaff noted he knew a spell that would allow the dragon to stretch out and squeeze up the entry tube, and thence out through the open door on the second egg. He suggested they offer that option in return for whatever the dragon could tell them about the egg and the creature Iomnogoron who controlled the eggs. Going back to the dragons' lair (which they now noted had a small scattering if treasure in addition to the piles of bones noted earlier), they waited for the dragon to return and made the offer.  After some further negotiation and paranoia, a deal was struck. Xithanilix would accept the elasticity spell. But to ensure against betrayal, she instated that she cast a spell trapping one of the party, to be dispelled upon her successful escape. And one of the party would crawl up the tube ahead of her, so she could scorch him if there was any betrayal. In the end the party agreed. Rodrigo would lead the way up the tube, and Awg agreed to be en-spelled. Chaff also negotiated for the curious looking oil lamp he spied in the treasure pile. To which Xithanilix agreed and then directed the party to gather the rest of the treasure and provide to her in a sack. 

Chaff had to memorize the spell, so the party settled in for the night under the unblinking eyes of the dragon.  Next morning, before Chaff cast the spell, they questioned the dragon about the egg. This confirmed the general layout of the teleporter-statue rooms, which filled much of the blank spaces on their map. Xithanilix also explained that the Adonian Iomnogoron was quite crazy; one minute lucid and normal, and the next raging and incomprehensible. And dangerous. The party also used the chance to plant the idea in the dragons' head to go after the 'great cannibal treasure' they'd seen, in the hopes it would be fooled into heading to the far west rather than raking their own ship with lighting bolts once it escaped the eggs. In the end all went according to plan; Xithanilix escaped and kept her word to release Awg and not blast Rodrigo.

With that excitement over, the party got back to exploration. Thinking of nowhere else to explore in

Gelatinous Triangle

this egg, they headed for the stairs to go down to the final and fourth egg. These twisted and turned before leading into a corridor, which after following for some time the party discovered was a perimeter corridor similar to those in the upper eggs. When they followed it around, they discovered nothing more interesting than another set up stairs going up. Before trying to untangle the empty mystery of this egg, the party decided to go up these other stairs to see where they led. They led in fact into the entry chamber of one of the teleporter rooms. Realizing they hadn't explored the other connected chamber in this group of rooms, the party moved through the archway and spread out to explore. The room had a curiously angled large alcove at the far end, and they all congregated there. And too late realized the alcove was not empty, but instead there were four gelatinous and largely transparent creatures lairing there. Lurching forward, they things slammed into the party, and both Awg and Kwinsea were immediately paralyzed. The gelatinous triangles then struck again and again, and it started to look grim for the party. To save the day, Rodrigo guzzled a potion of growth, sprouting to enormous size. So large he had to hunch over to avoid getting blasted by the lightning field. The now giant swashbuckler grabbed the paralyzed party members and tossed them down the stairs to safety. In the meantime, Chaff had retreated behind his big comrade, and used instinct to drive one of the gelatinous triangles away. Rodrigo then laid into the remaining three with muscle and sword. Soon all were destroyed. And then for good measure, he chased down the last one and stomped it too. He then sat down (and almost on) Chaff to wait for the potions effect to wear off, which coincidentally happened at about the same time as Awg and Kwinsea's paralysis lifted. 

TOTAL XP
3110*

GAINS

Golden Oil Lamp (100gp)

KILLS/VICTORIES

4 Gelatinous Triangles
Xithanilix the Blue Dragon [bargained with, rather than killed]

LOSSES
none

*2xp per gp rule in effects