Chapter 15: The Strange Behaviour of Dragons
The Loud Boys in the Lost Mine of Phandelver, a D&D Report
It turned out that the last cultist did have some loot on his person after all. Uayak secreted three small diamonds around his person and held up a mysterious vial of clear liquid that, against all common sense, floated stubbornly against gravity, despite being turned over and over.
“I think it’s a potion of flying,” said Jake. “I’ve read about this somewhere.”
The halfling shook the vial. The blob of fluid sploshed lazily against the glass walls of the vial, then resumed its unnatural position against the stopper. “Do either of you want it?”
Kila shrugged. Jake shook his head.
Uayak put the vial away and looked back up the road, the flaming remains of the farmhouse collapsing behind him. “I think there’s only one more place for us to clear,” he said.
The tower loomed ominously at the top of the hill north of Thundertree. As they approached, they saw that there was a cottage attached to the round tower’s base. Half of the tower’s roof was gone. There was an eerie quiet- quieter than the rest of the abandoned town- and a strange, acrid smell in the air. Turning onto the path leading to the tower, the three adventurers saw sprawled near its edge the corpses of two hideous giant spiders. Drag marks from the tower led to their bloated bodies, which were puckered and blistered as if burned by some corrosive substance.
Jake found a long stick under a bush and poked one of the spiders. It bubbled slightly and the end of the stick melted. “Acid, I think. Or maybe poison.”
“I think we need a game plan,” said Uayak. “I don’t think we can just rush in on a dragon, especially a poisonous one.”
“Why can’t we rush in on a dragon?” said Kila in a genuinely puzzled tone. He hefted his sword and rolled his shoulders. “I’ll just chop it in the face, as usual.”
“What sort of dragon do you think it is?” said Jake. The young wizard rummaged in his pack and produced a pocket bestiary with coloured illustrations. The pages whispered as he flicked through to an entry adorned with wyrms winding around the capital letters. “It can’t be that big and still live in the tower comfortably. I think it must be a juvenile. We’re in a forest region, so it’s most likely a green dragon. It will have poison breath.”
“See,” said Uayak. “That’s why you can’t just chop it in the face. It’ll breathe on you.”
“Not for long!” said Kila cheerfully.
“You mean, because you’ll have died or-”
“Anyway,” said Uayak, giving up on the hope of a subtle plan, “why don’t you lure it out then, Kila, and Jake and I will hide somewhere and attack from a distance. And maybe arrows would be better than your sword this time.”
The warrior nodded and sheathed his blade. The bow he produced seemed to appear from nowhere.
“Were you keeping that in your pack?” said Jake. “Only because I didn’t see it before and it seems to be about twice as long as-”
“Shh!” went Uayak, as he started stealthing.
“Oh, right,” said Jake, and found some bushes near the tower doorway to crouch behind.
Kila put an arrow to the string and raised his voice. “Hey stupid dragon! Come out and fight! Your mother was a worm! And your father was one too!”
“You mean wyrm,” whispered the wizard from the precarious cover of the bushes.
A bass growl emanated from the tower. Then, as Kila drew the bowstring taut, a large shadow exploded from the top of the tower and landed in front of them. The iridescent green dragon roared, a lavender mist wreathing its nostrils. Kila released the arrow, which smacked into one of the dragon’s toes. As the reptilian head swung around to find the source of the stinging, Kila ran around the ruins of the cottage to the other side of the tower- unfortunately for Jake, right in front of his hiding spot.
The great glowing eye glared at the wizard inadequately concealed in the undergrowth.
Jake squeaked and dashed down the hill, almost tripping over his robes. Little sparks fell from the train of his robes, which were getting quite raggedy in the course of their adventures. He managed to shoot off some flames behind him without looking, but only a few landed on the snout of the dragon. It shook them off without stopping.
Looking desperately around as he came to the town square at the bottom of the hill, the young wizard scrambled for the closest ruined building- a tavern, as it turned out, on his left. The door opened easily and he slammed it behind him, gasping for breath in the dim light. Fortunately, the party had already checked the place previously and little heaps of ash on the ground were the only remains of the zombies that had infested it.
A draconic rumble began outside the door, rather like an extremely oversized purr. Jake started for the back door on the opposite wall, but before he could take another step, a gigantic nostril blocked the light slanting from the shuttered window and the air took on a lavender tinge.
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A bubbling scream filled the air.
Uayak twitched. It sounded like the young wizard.
Cautiously, he poked his head out. The dragon was peering inside the ruined tavern. There was no further noise. The halfling could just see a purplish mist at the window.
Poison breath, he thought. Damn it.
He spotted Kila attempting to creep quietly around the side of the tower, and hissed to get his attention. “Go that way,” he whispered, pointing. “We need to distract it. I’ve got to see what’s happened to Jake. Make some noise, Loud Boy.”
The warrior looked relieved, and straightened up. “Good,” he said. “It’s hard to tip toe in armour.”
The arrows started flying. Some of them landed, and some went past the mark, but it was enough to get the dragon’s attention. It lumbered clumsily towards Kila, leaving the doorway free for Uayak to slip into. He could hear Kila’s shouts and taunts circling around the back of the tavern, then towards the tower again.
Inside, Jake was lying in a puddle of dark robes. Blisters had bloomed across his face where the toxic gas had contacted the bare skin. He did not appear to be breathing. Uayak frowned. Dragons were powerful, and wizards physically weak; everyone knew that. But even so, Jake should not have taken this much damage from one poisonous puff filtering through a window.
Rummaging in one of his numerous pouches, the halfling extracted several bottles. A vial of floating liquid, a glimmer of red- ah, yes. Shoving the other vial back, he popped open the potion of healing with one hand, pinched the wizard’s thin, elvish cheeks until his mouth opened with the other, and poured it down.
Another roar from outside. He hoped Kila had the sense to stay undercover, out of the dragon’s range. Once the beast got into the sky it would be able to dive down on him and there was no human who could outrun a flying dragon. Although it seemed that even buildings were not proof against its breath attack either.
A gurgle, then a cough, and the wizard sat up, the blisters fading away. “What happened?”
“A dragon,” said Uayak grimly. “Let’s see if Kila needs some help.”
But as they reached the back door, they were just in time to witness what they all agreed later was a miracle.
The dragon was still on the ground, grumbling and puffing asthmatically towards Kila. Kila was running backwards and shooting, somehow not falling on the uneven hilltop. Arrows studded the dragon’s wings and along its scaly body. Before their unbelieving eyes, one last arrow arced perfectly through the sky to slam right into the dragon’s open eye. With an agonised roar, the dragon stumbled and fell heavily to the ground.
Uayak whipped out his bow and started shooting, but it was barely necessary. With a bloodthirsty cry, Kila drew his sword and cleaved the dragon’s head.
Jake sniffled. “I can’t believe I missed most of that fight.”
“Be grateful,” growled Uayak. “You might have missed the rest of your life if I hadn’t had that potion handy. Speaking of which…”
The halfling reached into his potions pouch and extracted the glass vial with the potion of flying. The floating blob bobbed happily against the stopper.
“This would have come in handy, if that dragon had flown. Why didn’t it fly?”
The three adventurers looked at the corpse of the young green dragon. The lavender mist was evaporating from its nostrils as they watched.
“Now that you mention it,” said Kila, “I was sure it would catch up to me. But it never did. And I did get to chop it in the face, after all.”
“Maybe you got lucky,” said Jake.
“Maybe,” said Uayak. He looked at the clear, blue sky. There was a rumble as of thunder, if thunder could be embarrassed. “Maybe Someone is looking out for us. Or… maybe it was just a very stupid dragon.”
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Chapter fourteen is here!
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