The EARTH story - September 5, 1372
You set out again on September 5th.
The weather is warmer today (46F) and a light fog blows off of Slave Lake. You make good time. The Barren Land Highway heads northwest, skirting the flanks of the Moga Thor. By late afternoon those peaks lie to the south of you, and extend as far as the eye can see to the southwest.
Late in the afternoon you crest a low ridge, and see the lands before you opening up. The North Woods are becoming more open, and ahead you see the road running down to the banks of a broad, shallow, swampy river. On the other side the forest is much less dense, and interspersed with grassy meadows.
At the point where the Road meets the river is a bridge of stone, which spans it. On this bank next to the bridge is a small fortification. Consisting of but a 30' diameter, 40' tall tower, it is nevertheless of stout construction. It is slowing falling into ruin, though: the top is open to the elements.
However, something or someone has plugged the main entrance at ground level with rock and debris.
You are about a half a mile from the tower.
"Mmm, can any of the mages or druids remove it? Brother Equinox, can you summon an earth elemental to clear the area?" Al asks.
"Unfortunately not, Al," Equinox replies. "I cannot yet cast that order of spell."
"A shame," he comments, "Mages? Anyone possess a disintegrate spell or some sort of rock to mud or dig spells?"
"Not on me," Beth says. "If you want a wait a day for me to study again, I can quickly learn a 'Dimension Door' spell."
She takes a considered look at the pile. "Probably too heavy for me to conveniently Levitate."
"Given time to pray, I can cast Rock to Mud," says Equinox to Al.
"Maybe we could just push the rocks out of the way..." suggests Kithus, sizing up the rocks and boulders.
The top is crumbling, and as best you can see from your current locale, there is no roof.
"Why bother with heavy magic? One of us can climb up, or use magic to fly, to the top and lower a rope for the rest to scale up - it's only 40' high. Plus, by entering at the top, we may gain an element of surprise to whatever may be inside."
"Do we want to explore the tower?" Leslie asks, "The road is clear."
"Leslie, someone or something went to great lengths to bury the front of the tower. That means something very evil or very important is inside. Since we are on a quest to destroy evil and find something important, it might well be worth the day's look," Al suggests.
Mikodin nods in agreement, and adds, "Evil must be fought wherever it is found. We might as well search this tower, since it is along our path. The gods, it seems, wanted us to find this tower. Let's find out why."
"Al, might we be getting into something that might waste time when we are on a quest that requires a certain amount of haste?"
"Brother, if you wish to go on, please do, but this place disturbs me. We could have chosen many other paths but this is what we have done. We all know by now that nothing is by chance, for all we know, our search could lead through here. So, go on, if you wish, I am staying and searching!" Al replies respectfully.
Sharone pulls out her campfire stool and rests under a nearby tree, "Looks like the place an airborne creature would pick to live in. Can I suggest we get a mage to drop a web in the top of the structure to stop them leaving? Then we really need to go in the bottom."
She gathers some small sticks to light a fire, "Anyone for tea?"
Jon says, "Well I will go and scout out the evil."
Jon takes to the air flies off towards the tower, invisible.
"Who has a rope?" Al asks. "Also, a small hammer and a spike or two!"
Once given, he takes to the air.
While Sharone makes tea, you watch Al fly down to the tower. Jon is not to be seen, being invisible.
It takes about seven minutes for Al to approach the tower, and you then see him fly slowly over the top of it.
Suddenly you see what appear to be three cones of cold engulf him from within the tower...and next you hear a reptillian shrieking similar to what assailed your ears two days ago.
Finally, you see a white dragon rise up out of the interior of the tower.
"Here we go again!" says Leslie, as she turns invisible and takes flight.
Tully runs toward the tower full speed.
Kithus also takes up his bow. He will remain some distance from Tully, so the dragon could not hit them both with one breathe. Then, he will open fire on the dragon, once it is in range of course.
Sharone picks up her stool and goes looking for a safe location. She will prepare her sling on the off chance she can get a shot at the dragon.
"I still think a web in the tower would be a good idea, in case there are more residents."
"Not a bad idea," Beth says, "But I think I'm a bit out of range."
Ayazin panics briefly -- then changes into Peregrine Falcon form and flies at top speed toward the dragon.
Drinor wordlessly pulls out his crossbow and takes up a defensive position near Sharone's tea party, ready to fire at the dragon if it should come within range.
Mikodin runs for cover, simultaneously readying his crossbow. Once shelter is reached, he will try to shoot the dragon.
"If only we had listened to Sharone," he thinks to himself glumly.
Aldarin ducks behind a tree.
Equinox puts on his ring of invisibility.
"Everybody spread out again," the sorceress says, "so that we don't all get zapped at once."
Beth looks for a spot that might afford some cover or at least concealment and quickly get there. She watches the incoming dragons, and once the first one is getting to the point that it will be in range by the time she finishes casting her spell, she'll zap it with a lightning bolt.
There are lots of trees around, as well as some scattered boulders.
Op Code agrees with the sorceress about spreading out. He downs a potion of invisibility. With his Rod of Flailing, he will expend one charge, and when the dragon comes within range, attack it.
"We should spread out and go help Al," says Aron.
Seeing no response from anyone else, Aron shrugs his shoulders and says, "I just can't leave him to fight the dragon alone," and runs off towards the tower at full speed.
"I'll join you, Aron," says Mikodin quickly, realizing that the dragon is not heading his way at the moment. He begins running swiftly with Aron toward the white dragon, keeping his crossbow at the ready, and trying to leave enough space between himself and Aron to prevent the dragon from getting them both in one breath.
"Guys," Beth hisses. "Draw 'em back this way."
Beth remains concealed behind a tree as best she can, and will try to zap the first dragon that comes into range with a lightning bolt.
"Ok," says Aron.
Meanwhile, you see Al battling the dragon, over the tower. The cavalier swoops at it, but the white opens its maw and grabs him in its teeth! Then, it breathes again on him. You see a flash that can only be Al's blade, and suddenly the dragon releases him and drops earthwards, lifeless.
Al drops as well, as you see a second white dragon rising up out of the tower to attack him next.
"That idiot!" exclaims Vardui. He grabs Goodgulf.
"What??" exclaims the mage in surprise, as the elf speaks a word of power and they both vanish.
"What the..?" Beth says, but decides to trust that Vardui knows what he's doing and doesn't think about it further. She continues to remain covered and watches the dragons, ready to zap one as soon as one of her companions lures it over or when it comes into lightning bolt range for whatever other reason.
Seeing Al fall, Tully uses his wings of flying to rise into the air and fly faster than he can run toward the dragons.
Jon, still several hundred yards away, yells, "Al's in trouble! Three white dragons at least!!"
The invisible Raven that is Equinox flies as fast as possible directly to Al, even if Al is falling back into the tower which appears to be the dragons' lair. His intention is to save Al from being eaten or killed by the dragons.
He is not fast enough, however, as Al drops past the dragon and out of your sight into the tower.
Then, a third white dragon rises up out of the tower, spreading his wings wide once he is clear.
Almost at the same time you see two small figures appear at the base of the tower. They unleash a flurry of magic missiles at the second dragon, shooting it down in flames.
When he's about halfway between the party and the tower, Aron starts yelling at the dragon, "Hey you overgrown newt, come pick on someone your own size!"
Mikodin does likewise, joining Aron in taunting the dragon with, "Your breath is barely cool, I hear! I heard your father was a brass dragon!"
The remaining dragon swings its ponderous head around at the sounds of the insults, then starts flying at the monks.
Mikodin then tries to outrace Aron, since they both will have to run their best to outpace an outraged white dragon.
While dashing to meet their possible doom, Aron adds, "Brother Mikodin, your insults to the lizard are good. May I suggest on our way back, that when I go to the right, you go left? No need for the both of us to end up in the wyrms stomach or in the path of Beth's lightning bolt."
"Your idea is wise, as usual, Brother Aron," Mikodin replies while panting, "So I'll go left up ahead, and let the dragon choose which one he wants. Good luck, Aron".
Equinox, Ayazin and Tully are now within striking range of the dragon...as are the monks.
As soon as the dragon is in range (or its propagated vector puts it in range at the end of the casting time), Beth will zap the dragon with a lightning bolt.
Aldarin moves toward the monks, using as much cover as possible. If he gets within range he will blast the dragon with 2 sets of Magic Missiles.
Tully continues to fly forward as he fires arrow after arrow at the dragon.
Equinox (still invisible) flies around the dragon and then down into the tower after Al.
Ayazin flies past the first dragon and heads toward the tower to see what became of Al.
Jon looks for cover and a hiding spot and maneuvers out of direct line from the group to the dragon, thinking, "Ohhh, some luck at last. Three they would have killed me...they still may...hope Al's okay at least the group knows of the enemy...better get out of line of the spells that are going to get off...I wonder what those creatures at the bottom of the tower were...well there's bound to be something else coming about as well...wonder what it will be....boy this is a powerful group...now remember to take some of the dragon skin and blood and stuff this time you silly fool just because you were too scared to do anything last time is no reason not to take an opportunity when it presents itself...now if I had training I may have been more helpful but we are on a quest and can't afford to stop and train...I would how far we have to go...is Sharone having tea again...a camp fire would be good against the white dragons...well perhaps not..."
Aron thinks for a second, stops, then continues running, hoping to dodge any breath attack.
Mikodin does likewise, then continues running, weaving and dodging, yelling back to the dragon, "Look everybody, a flying white toad!"
Mikodin then redoubles his efforts at sprinting.
The dragon locks his eyes on Aron, and dives at him, ignoring the two arrows that Tully buries into him.
The dragon breathes on Aron as he flies over him, but the monk suddenly leaps aside and the icy breath misses him. An arrow from Kithus nicks the enormous creature, as he next brings Beth into his sights.
Then, the sky lights up with spells as Leslie appears above the dragon, firing magic missiles, Aldarin does likewise, and Beth releases her bolt.
It is hard to tell what spell it is that does in the monster, but suddenly it crashes to the ground with an earth shaking thud, dead.
Meanwhile, in the tower, Equinox and Ayazin discover that Al is dead...apparently killed by the 80' fall.
You gather together at the tower, and those who can fly transport the rest of you into the hollow shell of the building which was their lair.
Laurie takes out a rod and touches the mushy remains of Al with it, while uttering the words, "Jesus Christ II."
Al becomes whole again, then sits up and opens his eyes with a silly grin on his face.
Al returns to life to find himself within the hollow shell of the tower where the dragons laired. Laurie stands over him, putting away a rod. He has a silly grin on his face for some reason.
The dragons are dead, he soon learns.
You check out their treasure trove, which is a small one at best: 2 scrolls, a flail, a potion and 750cp.
It is late in the day so you camp here for the night.