Navero 16

From: dparsons@jarthur.claremont.edu (Daniel Parsons)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Navero XVI
Reply-To: dparsons@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Daniel Parsons)
Distribution: world
Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA
Keywords: Navero, of the Correct and Unalterable Way

The battle with the Red Dragon. Scorecards available on request.

• 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

For a moment, everything paused. We stared into its gold-flecked eyes like they were the only thing in the world. Then, as agreed, we scattered. Kortul and Arlor ran to the right, Kortul to the fore, aiming his longbow, and Arlor about 15 feet to the rear. Rourk and Razuli went left, Rourk forward with weapons drawn and Razuli loading his crossbow. The Dragon all too quickly shook off its sleep and stood, and moved its claw in a curious way. Navero and Dania hid behind the rocks, Navero starting a Chant which would encourage his friends, and Dania fired off 2 magic missiles. The missiles streaked over across the room, and fizzed out on an invisible barrier; a Shield spell. So far, except for spellcasting, not a sound had been made.

The Dragon roared. The earsplitting noise echoed enormously in the cave's confines; we quickly realized it had been chosen partially for it's great acoustics. The noise was so loud that Navero was shocked out of his chant, and Arlor and Rourk were stunned. Then it breathed, a mighty gout of flame, in the direction of Rourk and Razuli, at an angle guaranteed to get both. Razuli ducked behind a lump of stone, but Rourk, stunned as he was, could not possibly get out of the way. The flames blazed around them both; a great blast of steamy residue flew off as the Shimmer mold which had coated them was seared into ash, but they were alive. Kortul fired two arrows; one bounced off the invisible shield, the other from the creature's metallic hide. Dania swore and cast a Web spell about the Dragons feet.

Kortul and Rourk charged; Arlor approached more cautiously. Razuli lifted his crossbow, but discovered that the string had been burnt through, so he drew his blade and moved forward. Navero resumed the Chant. Dania cast Cause Blindness; the Dragon shrugged it off. The Dragon reared up and lifted the web, gold showering from it. It tore completely away from its scales, and then it threw the sticky mass over Kortul.

Rourk charged up the pile of treasure, but never reached the Dragon itself. One wing swung out, battering him away and almost throwing him into Razuli. The great tail swung out and knocked the struggling Kortul down, and then the Dragon ripped into him with its claws until he lay still. Razuli ran up beside it, and threw his entire weight behind his longsword, stabbing into its leg; blood hissed out and the blade snapped. Arlor threw a dagger, which skittered across the scales of it's neck. Dania moved from the rock to a column which was closer to the action, while Navero continued his entreaties to his gods.

The Dragon paused, as if considering, and then breathed again. This time, the fire arced across the room, and enveloped Dania and her column. Hair shriveled, and Shimmer mold boiled away. Rourk got up and swung both swords into one forelimb; he drew blood, but not nearly enough. Razuli drew his dagger, laughed at his own foolishness, and looked in the treasure pile for a weapon. Arlor tried to run around and get behind it. Dania dropped without a sound. Navero ran forward to Dania, and quickly used his last spell point to Cure Light Wounds.

Kortul got up; he wasn't quite dead after all, and was able to rip away the tattered web in one motion. Rourk stabbed into the body, one blade merely scratching the steely scales, and the other not penetrating nearly as far as it should have. Arlor threw his other dagger; the Dragon merely moved out of its way. Razuli saw a naked sword in the pile, gleaming in the red light of the lava, with a blackened and bony hand still around the hilt. He took it without thinking. Dania was still unconscious, and Navero began to hear something from the lava pit; a crackling sound, unfamiliar.

Rourk swung again. Both blades grated across the scales. Kortul swung his great blade, and felt its weight come to a satisfyingly sudden halt in the Dragon's neck. Arlor finally reached it's hindquarters, and tried to pick a spot to plant his short sword. He chose the tendons of the leg. Razuli stabbed it beneath the tail, where he thought there might be SOMETHING vital; the blade sank in almost greedily, and the Dragon actually screamed. (Critical strike, genitals.) Dania was jarred awake at this, and cast another Web spell, but this time into the Dragon's open mouth. The cracking sound was getting louder. The Dragon's eyes blazed, possibly with pain but more likely with rage, and kicked back with both legs; Razuli was torn from crotch to throat, and hurled back into a wall.

The Dragon grabbed Kortul, and threw him into Rourk; both dropped. With it's other claw, it tore away most of the web in its mouth. Arlor cut at it's leg, but it was like trying to cut through stone or steel. Rourk got back up; Kortul did not. He had been thrown onto one of Rourk's swords. Razuli lay there and bled. Dania and Navero looked on in helplessness.

Arlor ran to Razuli, and grabbed the shining, bloody blade from his hand. Rourk swung twice, cutting across the deep wound Kortul had made in the Dragon's neck. A good amount of blood rewarded him. The Dragon looked down at him, and its left claw came streaking in out of nowhere, followed closely by the right; both hit, but the bite miraculously just grazed him, ripping his chest plate to tatters. Rourk was hurled away to the floor. Dania cast Magic Missile; it somehow snuck past the Shield and made a slight wound in the Dragon's side. Navero threw a rock, but it fell far too short.

The Dragon looked out across the room, to where Dania and Navero were huddled behind the stone. It seemed to be at the same time insulted, and horribly triumphant. Its breath roared out again. Navero grabbed Dania and threw his mold-laden cloak about them both as the flames surrounded them. The fires seemed to last minutes. When it was over, Navero almost gently dropped to the floor; Dania had been shielded by Navero's body, and was nearly unhurt. Rourk hacked at the Dragon again; it seemed to finally be slowing down, although he did no significant damage. Arlor ran up behind it and chopped at it's leg again. The sword was almost as long as he was, and very unwieldy, but the slash cut nearly to the bone.

The Dragon slipped down the pile, it's leg no longer supporting it. Rourk smashed it over the head, striking for the eyes; he missed them, but the Dragon seemed jarred by the impact, indicating it was weakening. Arlor swung, but the heavy blade was too much for him and he missed. Dania cast her last Magic Missile; they sputtered against the Shield. The Dragon swung with its great wings, blowing dirt up from the floor; Rourk and Dania got it in their eyes. It kicked back with it's good leg, and tore Arlor's legs out from under him. He dropped with two broken legs (Critical strike) and fainted from the pain.

Rourk struck blind. He hurled himself onto the Dragon's sagging neck and stabbed and stabbed and stabbed. Blood hit him in the face and burned; he ignored it. Dania cleared the dirt from her eyes, and started limping away from the column back towards the entrance. The Dragon snarled weakly and shoved Rourk away, slamming him to the ground and holding him underneath one claw. It looked into his eyes, and Rourk felt it trying to take hold of his mind and Charm him, but he was one of the Dark Ones, and not to be so manipulated.

The Dragon's last desperate maneuver had failed. Rourk stabbed up into the golden eye.

The Dragon seemed almost indignant. Then, slowly, with a great clash like steel on stone, it fell back onto its pile, and it's last breath left it. The thing was dead.

Dan Parsons