On The Road: KoMantou

[marsden_online]

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Upon returning to Murdered Bow Markos made good his promise to the ki-rin and removed the last of the metal bindings. Sa paid a visit to the baker's widow discovering that business had not been good since the death of her husband; something he remedied by buying a round for everyone in a local drinking house and pronouncing the greatness of her wares. The word of such a great hero soon had people flocking to the bakery.

Zenon had been busy in the intervening time and presented the other members if the party with a number of useful one-shot items such as tokens of Obscuring Mist and powder of See the Invisible.

The treasure ships were investigated for an item of power suitable for a new member of the party and Val chose to replace one of her bladed gauntlets with the one name Mageslayer - a bleak, black iron piece with a taste for the blood of spellcasters. Markos replaced some of the blades on her other gauntlet with ones of meteoric iron; the better to face Anthony's never-ending creations.

~~~
It was about a week before anyone noticed the absence of Spoony, Hughes and Juno whereupon a mix of curiousity and concern (and just possibly boredom) led the party to venture into the caverns beneath the warehouse to see what had become of them. With no sign of activity in the upper levels the waterfall portal was used to reach the snowy wastes below. Here several of the guardian statues had been smashed and some crude fortifications erected - but still no sign of the missing werewolves.

Tracks away from the portal area led to a cavern exit then split up. Following the set which doubled back led to the scene of a fight and then a badly wounded and mostly-helpless Juno in human form, her healing and shapeshifting powers apparently suppressed. After some healing and with much cursing she told of Spoony leading her and Hughes down here to explore only for them to be ambushed by some huge green lizard-like monster. Although there was no clear way to mark the passing of the days she thought the better part of week had passed since she last saw the other two.

Juno was taken back up to the warehouse to eat, rest and begin to recover her strength before the party picked up following the other set of tracks which made their way through a series of caverns, carved out in places and floors polished smooth beneath the snow as if once some ancient temple. After the scene of another fight the tracks stopped so exploration continued in a more methodical fashion.

A set of side caverns held a tragic discovery - the corpses of what were probably the last (humanoid) inhabitants of the place huddled together in their chambers and starved or frozen to death; bodies preserved by the cold. Zediz'r led a brief ceremony to send any lost spirits which might still linger here to their rest.

Eventually the caverns ended at a sheer drop. Water rushing could be heard from below but torches dropped over the edge shrank to tiny points of light before extinguishing. Zenon, determined to continue, trusted to Levitate and stepped boldly over the edge; the rest of the party were more cautious and sought out a series of hand-and-foot holds cut in the rock at one end of the ledge.

After a long climb / Safe fall down the floor of the cavern was reached. Here a narrow-but-swift river flowed into a vast underground lake. Markos used a heightened, modified Locate Creature spell to probe for signs of Hughes and picked up a signature on an island some distance out. He also had - just - enough slots to cast Fly on everyone except Zenon; whom as he was still Levitating was simply towed along.

Hughes was indeed piled up on the shore of an island; near an ancient crumbled fortification guarding a sizable set of stairs leading into the rock; in human form (although with no sign of his permanent form-suppressing manacles or ring) and very near death. Healing later he was torn between joy at having his "beautiful" face and hands back and with the urgent need to leave before the winged beast which dropped him here came back.

Naturally the group was only halfway back to the ledge when a huge green-hued dragon burst forth from the stairs and hurled itself in pursuit; screaming furiously at having it's territory invaded and meal stolen. Hughes was unceremoniously dumped on the ledge to flee back and warn the town then the party turned to engage in the air rather than be caught in the close quarters of the tunnels.

The dragon was mostly unfazed by the initial assault of spells and arrows but it's rage was tempered by curiousity as Val called out an apology in draconic and it paused it's attack (ignoring continued hits from Zenon and Sa) to demand how she spoke it's tongue. Somehow Val managed to convince it that the party were an ancient group of immortals meaning no harm but determined to rescue their friend.

Things nearly went from improving back to bad as Sa, determined not to be left out of the negotiations but not knowing draconic, attempted to communicate via interpretive dance and managed to insinuate that he was going to urinate on the dragon's mother; an insult with no alternative but to be answered with death. Fortunately the death didn't need to be immediate and after more fast talking by Val and contrition from Sa the dragon agreed to 500 years for the giant to set his affairs in order before the debt would come due.

There was still the matter of the "lost" meal, but Val sold the dragon on sampling the new delicacies of "cow" and "sheep" which could be provided. His (KoMantou aka Ko) humour was also improved when upon mention that the last "of our type" he had encountered here had cursed him to turn to stone should he ever find his was back above ground, Markos on a hunch produced an illusion of the Antonys met in the past and the culprit proved to be Robin (deceased at the party's hand). The curse still held however, and Ko ripped open his breast briefly to show a globe of corrupt essence embedded there, slowly merging with the flesh around it and too painful for the dragon to remove himself.

While Val and Sa returned to the town to acquire the promised meat Markos, Zediz'r and Zenon learnt more of how the Ko had become trapped down here 1000 years earlier as a wyrmling when he became too big to fit through the passageways out. Knowing that there was now the easily-Ko-sized hole blasted from the entrance to the maze down to the snowy cavern, and from the maze entrance passages the dragon would be able to squeeze through to get beneath the town, Markos cut a deal - if the party could remove the globe and show the dragon a safe way out (the tunnel to the lighthouse) Ko would restrict his predation to herd and game animals ("those that walk on four legs").

After the dragon was well fed and relaxed the operation began. Ko again tore open his chest to reveal the globe and Markos wielded his meteoric blade as a scalpel while Zediz'r stood by with healing and the others attempted to pull free the globe using the largest set of tongs which could be found in the forge. It took three attempts but eventually the vessel of corruption was ripped free (and immediately claimed by the covetous Zenon).

A grateful Ko promised the party an additional future favour (except in the matter of Sa's death which is irrevocable) before wriggling through the tunnels and off in the direction of the lighthouse. Hughes, Juno and sundry other people the party felt it wise to let know of this turn of events were less impressed. Of Spoony there continues to be no sign ...
[session ends]