Desert Dragon Lair

A cloud of bats began to shriek as the dragon entered the cave for the first time. They fell from their perches and took flight in a cacophonous tumult. "Qe ifpesp." The dragons voice had a hypnotic whine to it. With those word the bats returned to where they had been hanging and awaited the twilight hours.

Trogdor chose the far corner of his cave and began to regurgitate his treasures. Gingerly he put down the enchanted mannequin. He did not know what it did, but that hardly mattered. Hanging the coat on the mannequin was difficult to say the least. These items he had found at St. James Boutique in Isra.

Next, Trogdor carefully propped the skrying glass against the wall of the cave. The crystal mirror now only displayed his reflection. This had been found at Red's Relics.

The dragon towards the center of the cave. He opened his mouth and a molten stream of gold, silver, and bronze came pouring out. The metals swirled together as they cooled, creating a solid mound of metal. A good pillow for now, but some day Trogdor intended on filling the whole cave with valuables.

The dragon began to cough, a frightening sound that made the bats chatter uneasily, as he hocked up a chain that held an enchantment of strength. That it had not melted in the dragons stomach was a testament to the power of the enchantment. These rare metals had once been a carriage owned by Giplor.

Trogdor took the chain and set it at the foot of the mannequin. He was about to go to sleep he could still feel an unknown magic within himself. After a fit of coughing, gagging, and perhaps a hurl Trogdor spat out four magical items he had consumed completely on accident: a 78 card tarot deck, a stone ring, a book titled The Way of the Seven Paths,  and a wooden staff. The staff seemed to be some sort of communication device and the book was obviously a spell tomb.  The ring was harder to identify...a conduit between the book and ring perhaps?

The tarot deck was familiar.  Trogdor's mind wandered back to that day in Ozmodias. The final words of the priests fortune reading stuck in his head. "Death and you may follow the same path."  Trogdor liked that.  He chose to not to think about the rest of the foretelling.  Instead he stretched out upon the floor and went to sleep thinking of the ocean breeze and of the siren he had met. 

It did not take Trogdor long to learn that much had changed. "Fueryon di wer thrae, bleviki, vur rekisixi di wer bekilk. Confn ekess ve." His breath floated out the cave. This was going to be a lengthy process.

Traveling at their accelerated pace with Chasiha as the guide, the caravan was able to make it to the desert crag before noon. Upon reaching the large protruding spire of rock, Chasiha turned to check the desert. Sure enough a plume of sand was not far to the west. The ground had begun to rumble slightly, telling of the beast that was to come.

“Quickly, you must bring the animals up the crag!” Carved from the side of the red desert stone was a crude ramp. The tread was uneven and there were large rocks blocking the way. The climb would be perilous for wagon beasts, and there was not much time.


At the top of the crag however, was a new challenger.

Sollix immediately started unhitching the oxen that pulled the first wagon. The beast looked dead tired, it was a wonder that the beast hadn't died of heat exhaustion. Sollix grabbed the tired animals by its horns and started forcing it up the path. The wagons would likely be OK, but they could not afford to loose any beast. If so they would likely need to acquire more before the journey was over.

Arriving at the top.

"Riddle?" Said Sollix when confronted by the large raven, "I like, but do not understand." The troll did not attempt to force his way pass, though such a thing would be easy. It could always come to that, but Sollix enjoyed the chance to explore this foreign language in new ways. Also he needed the rest after an exhausting run across the desert and climb up the crag.

The caravan made it up to the top of the crag rather quickly considering how cumbersome the wagons were. Mordane stayed near the front with Sollix as they traversed the rocky terrain, helping to guide the oxen alongside him. Once they reached the top and were met by the Raven and his riddle, he decided to take off his armor, leaving only the chainmail on, so he could cool down. It had been useful in the fight against the Trael, but trudging up in the heat had exhausted him. Finding a nice place shaded by the rocks away from the sun, he took a seat and pondered the riddle, taking a swig from the canteen at his side as well as eating a bit of the more perishable food they had taken along with them. He figured he would have to be the one to solve it, or otherwise find a way around it, the Kobolds wouldn't figure out how to solve it, that's almost a certainty.

So as Chasiha approached him he offered her a bit of the food he had with him, she had been helpful in calling out the lizards when they were attacked. When they first met they had come off on the wrong foot, Mordane had assumed she was a hapless fool, the way she had threatened them at first, but it soon came to light how helpful she was if not instrumental to their journey. As she mentioned the wound on his leg he looked down to see it as well, he had completely forgotten about it and it was dripping down onto his boots, staining the leather a dark red. "Go ahead, I've never been good at tending to wounds."

"We're only here for the loot we were told of, or at least that's the motive of my band and I." Oobie had just entered after collecting the Little Lizard and chimed in on the conversation with Chasiha . The Kobold boss approached the entrance, wondering what the holdup was. "Why haven't we gone inside yet?"

"Boss! That bird wuz talkin'! Said we can't go in, and some other stuff..." This minion couldn't quite remember the riddle. She turns and asks the others if they remembered. "Duh, I forget. What black bird say?"

Oobie scowled with disappointment, SOMEONE had better tell him what was said, and it better be correct.

The little lizard scuttled behind Oobie. It had been impressed and now believe Oobie to be its mother and the rest of the caravan to be its family. The bird though, that looked tasty. The little lizard started prowling closer to its prey.

Sollix passed back and forth muttering under his breath. He seemed to be counting something on his fingers. The sun was past noon and there was much more shade now. If they got into the cave soon there would be time to make it out of the desert a little after nightfall. But taking another long trek across the desert so soon did not seem like a good idea. Also, something large had been following them.

"Bahh, what is the backwards five? What is the danger behind us? How does riddle help?" Sollix threw down his hands and walked to the edge of the crag. He wondered if they were still being followed.

"You may not enter!" Sollix said with excitement as he counted out five fingers, "Five lines, five parts.'Enter' is password. En-ter. Ter, ret-ne." He slammed one fist into his palm with satisfaction. Standing in front of the raven he spoke the password once more, "Retne!"