Chapter 7. The Dread Reptiles of Qorth Azell
The Questers entered into the Mountain Hall of the Pale Beast. There lay a huge white dragon upon the icy hall. Beneath the ice was buried a great hoard of magic and treasure.
The very ground they walked upon was snow drenched, and an ice floor. Beneath the ice glittered magical treasures of fallen empires and thousands of coins. Yaeldrin cast Pass Without Trace to get the jump on the white dragon, Orzalex. They went in and divided, to avoid the dragon’s icy breath.
The Questers attacked with various tactics and tricks. Yaeldrin released his Arrow of Dragon Slaying, given to him by Väreth the Spring Eladrin, and it missed its mark and went skidding off across the ice. Lohar chased it down with great speed and passed it to Meridius, who became frightened of the dragon shortly after. Pascal was also frightened and did the best he could to aid the party with inspiration and other tricks. Meridius fired the Arrow of Dragon Slaying towards Yaeldrin and it stuck into the ice, forming a crack. Rakab cast invisibility on Aemaeon and Tareen for them to sneak up and surprise the dragon. He himself attacked the dragon with a deathly hand.
The Dragon breathed upon Lohar and Meridius, and attacked Rakab with ferocity. The two Chosen Children struck successfully with sword. Yaeldrin struck with his Arrow of Dragon Slaying and many other arrows, doing the most damage to the beast. Lohar charged in with his magic dagger.
The battle went on. It was harsh, with Lohar receiving another blast of the icy breath, Aemaeon and Tareen included. It dropped all three. Rakab misty stepped to face the beast in the air and withered it’s face, but fell to the ground…but relentlessly endured. He saw his allies were down and he went to spare Aemaeon from death.
Tareen transformed into his werebear form and broke free of the ice, attacking savagely.
Yaeldrin shot from afar, landing his shots accurately. Meridius fired magic missiles, making his way for the door. Pascal inspired and danced around the dragon.
Rakab was struck down after healing Aemaeon.
Tareen raked at the dragon with his claws. Pascal was struck down, but was safe thanks to his necklace of wound closure, leaving only Meridius, Yaeldrin and Tareen to face the beast.
They faced it down.
The dragon breathed upon Yaeldrin, his Cloak of Cold protecting him somewhat.
Yaeldrin drew his last two arrows and slew the pale beast.
Tareen charged in anger at Meridius and Yaeldrin, but Meridius was able to calm him down, reminding Tareen that it was he, the Roman, who saved him from the mill of pain.
They look at Rakab’s body, and find that he had died.
Rakab found that he was displaced, a blue spirit, born of the light of the Third Moon…and he was in the Cave of Light. In his hand he held a blue flame. He felt at peace, but knew that his body had work to do. He lit the Black Candle at his altar with the book symbol and his blue spirit raced back to his body.
He found his allies lamenting his death.
He relayed to them what had happened to his spirit. None of them said much to him, and just accepted that fate had sent him back.
Pascal stabbed his black goblin spear into the ice and cast heat metal twice. This melted the ice and created a warm pool which the lost empire’s treasure either floated to the top or sunk to the bottom of.
They take as much treasure as they can.
Red Moon Talisman (for the Crafters gate) - Rakab
+2 Dragon Slaying Short Sword (+3d6 vs Dragons) - Yaeldrin
Bag of Holding - Rakab, which they filled with 25,000 eps
36 white gems worth 100 gps each.
+1 Dwarfish Half-Plate with cold resistance - Rakab
Silver bracelet(250gps), Snow Leopard Coat (500gps) - Pascal
+2 Giant Slaying Axe (+3d6 vs Giants) - Meridius
+2 Elvish Chain Shirt with silver links - Yaeldrin
+2 Gnomish Light Crossbow with five +2 Bolts - Lohar
Potions of healing (x2), Potion of Petrifaction Healing
Scroll of Heroes Feast & Scroll of Protection vs Undead
They also looted the dragon itself, Rakab taking teeth and creating a necklace, he also took phials of the dragons blood. Meridius took a large scale with the intention of melding it to his shield. Lohar took some smaller scales nearer the tail. Pascal took teeth. Yaeldrin took nothing of his vanquished foe.
Rakab also identified with a look, a small icon, a bust, of an undead demon prince…he surmises perhaps Orcus. He hears humming emanating from it. Lohar tries to break it with a rock, but the icon breaks the rock.
Pascal and Rakab cast mage hand and cast the icon into a ravine below. Meridius casts thunderwave onto snow and rocks nearby to bury the icon beneath it. They fear it greatly.
They cast Heroes Feast from the scroll. An enormous table filled with food is summoned into the hot pool of water, next to the ice dragon’s corpse. They celebrate and eat the plentiful banquet and press on. It gives them certain advantages.
They reach the final tower of Qorth-Azell, after the dwarfish bridges sloped down. Beyond the tower they see a sharp labyrinth of foothills, then light barren snowy vales. Before the tower and upon the dwarfish bridge are statues that still have clothes and weapons attached. They glimpse in horror to discover the statues are frozen, petrified by creatures.
They prepare themselves, averting their gazes and Pascal blindfolding himself.
They charged in and faced down 4 basilisks. With their immunity to poison from the Heroes Feast and clever tactics, they were able to defeat the basilisks without anyone turning to stone, though it was a close thing for Meridius. They heard the scattering of perhaps dozens of basilisks beneath the tower, racing up to get into a large crack in the floor.
Rakab used his Staff of the Mountains and cast Stone Shape upon the hole, sealing the Basilisks into their tunnels. They could hear the reptiles eating through the stone, munching it to flesh.
They quickly split up and searched the petrified statues for the third and final red key, the Red Star talisman. They found many potions and scrolls and gems, but they couldn’t find the Red Star talisman. They were annoyed.
They rushed out of Qorth-Azell victorious, across the sharp rocks and into the snowy vales, entering the barren copse-land of Palar-Azarak.
There they rested. They camped with fires and rations. They set off again.
The next day they were met by a ghostly figure in the distance, he seemed to hover. He bore a skull-orb in his hand. Lohar and Rakab immediately recognised it from Lohar’s candle dream. The Ghost Wizard. One of the five Wizards of Azarak who sealed the King-in-the-Ark into the Ark, after summoning it.
Diavanar the Ghost Wizard approached and greeted the Questers from the Cave of Light. He warned them of roads ahead, and had a gift for Rakab…
The gift was a black stone shard, made from the same slimy black rock that the wizard’s towers are made from. Diavanar told Rakab that he was perhaps not excommunicated. The black stone shard can be used to contact Rakab’s master, Tazamahl the Diviner.
Rakab thanks Diavanar, and Rakab contacts his former master.
They have a secret conversation within the shard… (stay tuned)
Rakab relayed information about his meeting. He was not in fact excommunicated and is still a member of the Wizard’s Cabal. Tazamahl cast him out and used Rakab’s search for divine power as an excuse to be angry with him and forced him upon his Quest for the Chosen Children. Tazamahl told him a great many things.
Rajatar’s Lord Algaroth is being whispered to by a servant of the King-in-the-Ark.
The Wizards did not know of the power of the demon they had summoned, they needed a great artefact from it for their own purposes. They cannot defeat the demon, and so trapped it in the Ark with the help of the dwarves and the dark elf, the Crafters Order.
Tazamahl also told Rakab that Isharath the Immortal is King of Lucidar, a powerful sorcerer and not to be trifled with. They should tread carefully when dealing with him. Rakab tells his master not to worry, they are the Questers, and fate will do as it will.
Diavanar the Ghost Wizard leaves them on the road.
Secrets and conspiracies are afoot.
The Questers then deliberate where next to venture. To Rajatar? Across the Palarian Copse-Vales? Across Petrifarl Lake?
Whatever their route, they are destined to Lucidar…and to the final Chosen Child…
So ends the seventh chapter of the First Book of Azarak.