Navero 15
From: dparsons@jarthur.claremont.edu (Daniel Parsons) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp Subject: Navero XV Reply-To: dparsons@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Daniel Parsons) Distribution: world Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA Keywords: Navero, of the Correct and Unalterable Way
A dragon! A Red Dragon! Not some panty-waist Wyvern or a baby Black, but
what seemed to be, from all indications, a REAL LIVE ADULT RED DRAGON! And
that stupid Cavalier insisted that we go in and kill the thing!
Dania: "Are you out of your fucking mind?"
Rourk: "Your insinuations are insulting to one of my stature. One need only think of the glory that could be won from the defeat of such a beast to realize our only course of action."
Dania: "YOUR only course of action! Hell, I'M not going in there!"
Razuli: "Arlor, are you sure it saw you?"
Arlor: "Did my best not to let it. Might have."
Kortul: "Came here for reputation. Get it, or die in attempt. But we should have plan."
Rourk: "Exactly, barbarian. You have a keen grasp of the obvious and proven facts. Dragons as large as this sleep hard, and are easily surprised in their lairs."
Razuli: "Oh, my! Are you suggesting that we actually SNEAK UP ON IT? Don't give it a fair, fighting chance?"
Rourk: "I propose only the time-honored strategy. One so uneducated as yourself would naturally see this in an incorrect manner. As I realize your obvious limitations, you can be forgiven, for now."
Razuli: "Rourk, you've come to your senses. Sooner or later, I knew you'd see I'm always right. It just took time, that's all. The thickest
- ahem!* helmets are always the hardest."
Dania: "You are all forgetting something. WE CAN'T DO IT."
Razuli: "Think of all the treasure it will have."
Dania: "Well... we can't do it. It'll slaughter us."
Navero: "If it isn't killed, what will it do?"
Rourk: "That is plain and obvious. The Orcs constructed the barrier, and maintained the poison on the stakes, so it obviously has some means of getting across the lava pit."
Dania: "Like, maybe, swimming the backstroke. How much money do Reds usually have, anyway?"
Razuli: "Enough to keep us going for, oh, say, several years?"
Dania: "I could buy a castle. A small one, wouldn't have to be much..."
Navero: "Red Dragons are greedy and evil, aren't they?"
Kortul: "The worst."
Navero: "Then it will probably come out and ravage the countryside, and do incalculable harm. There is only one moral thing to do, and that is to at least try to stop it, before it does these things."
Razuli: "Right! For morality's sake!"
We returned to town, and borrowed money at the moneychangers. The sum was not great, although the 'changer charged some hefty interest, and we all went out and got our training to go up a level, as appropriate. The time we spent would hopefully give the Dragon a chance to go back to sleep, assuming that it did not see Arlor. So now, the party is:
- Navero, male human cleric, 3rd level
- Dania, female 1/2-elf MU, 3rd level
- Rourk Ravensbane, male drow cavalier, 3rd level
- Kortul, male human fighter, 2nd level
- Razuli, male human fighter, 2nd level
- Arlor, male dwarf thief, 2nd level
(Fortunately, this was 1st edition AD&D, before the Dragons got nasty. We wouldn't even CONSIDER doing this now. Not with a party like this. The 2nd edition has improved some things.)
We trained hard. Practiced all our skills. Insisted that Rourk teach everyone basic Drow Silent-Speech. Bought fire-resistant backpacks. The works. Dania's master was not pleased with her sudden interest in fire resistance spells, seeing that she had not completed the task he had given her. However, he was willing to wait it out, on her promise that in just a little while, she would be able to satisfy him with something even better than expected. In light of later events, it seems that he did not take the opportunity to read her thoughts, as he had done earlier. Perhaps it was because he liked surprises.
Finally, the day arrived when we felt that more preparation wouldn't do us the slightest bit of good. We rode out to the cave at dawn, tethered our horses, and walked quietly into the first hall. We ran rags and threads and bits of leather strapping through all our armor, so it would not make as much noise. We tied soft soles to Rourk's metal boots; everyone else's were soft enough to be quiet. Then, we went to the Shimmer Mold cave, and coated our armor and equipment, first liberally with the glowing liquid, then with soot to kill the shining. Everyone wore scarves over their faces, so they wouldn't be exposed to the heat. All of this was done in complete silence; no arguments broke out, no one even spoke. Even the use of silent-speech was minimal. For the first time, the party acted with unity; it would have been depressing, if everyone weren't so scared.
We practically emptied the pool of Shimmer Mold juice into waterproof sacks, and carried it to the lava pit. There, Arlor and Dania, the quietest and lightest people, carefully made up a strong bridge to the other entrance, wide enough and thick enough to hold up all of us together, but not enough (hopefully) to support a Dragon's bulk. Then, the rest of us joined them, and we all went in.
Arlor spotted a thin wire stretched across the entrance; it led to a precariously balanced pile of old armor, tucked into a hidden alcove. This trap was taken care of, once spotted. The floor, we saw, had been coated with some slippery goo. We carefully covered it over with more of the soot we had brought, careful not to raise a choking cloud of the stuff. Navero cast Resist Fire on everyone.
There was about 20 feet of very wide passage, and then a cave about 80 feet across. The rock formations were more numerous, but many seemed ground down, roughened. Far away, at the western end, was a pile of more coinage than most of us had ever seen in one place. Gems and jewels, and more valuable things, glinted in the faint light the lava made. And, most importantly, there was the focus of all our thoughts. It was not a deep red at all, as I would have imagined, but a bright scarlet; and somehow seemed small in the quiet immensity of the cave. It was larger than it's pile of treasure, though; and that made all the difference.
Its eyes were closed.
Its breathing was so very slow; maybe once a minute.
Its great wings lay flat, rustling with it's breath.
It looked deadly, even in apparent repose. A thick dagger of a body, long sword neck, adze-shaped head angling to thin jaws that could crush any one of us instantly. It's claws were straight, not curved sickles, tapering to small graceful points so sharp they seemed impossible in something so large. Its essence was glory and destruction, sheer power as an end to itself.
It reeked of the death it held inside itself.
A killing machine, in a way we could never approach.
The columns of living rock outlined the gold alter on which it lay.
We came forward for the ceremony in silence.
It opened its eyes.
Dan Parsons
