Egwen Girls School Quest 31

Rolled 5, 20, 15, 4 = 44 (4d20)

Rolled 13, 14, 16, 5 = 48 (4d20)

17, 20, 16, 5

Get it together, gem daughteru.

guess its a fight then. Short update then combat options.

Well, it was a longshot anyway.

“We sneak” you say decisively “follow me.”

Quietly and carefully you approach the snoozing goblins. With great care and delicacy you move past them, keeping to the shadows as much as you can. Goblins can see pretty well in the dark but even their vision isn't perfect in places as dark as this.

Once past them it's only a short distance to-

A brilliant blue light illuminates the tunnel, looking back you see that Safire's robe got caught in a cleft in the wall and now her entire arm is exposed – lighting up the place.

The goblins rouse quickly and start yelling. Anlanesa rolls her eyes, Safire looks horrified at what she's done, and Janrael looks...eager for a fight.

The goblins are very close – only a few feet away, and with all the yelling reinforcements might be on the way soon. Also, with your party standing so close to the goblins, any wide-are spells would be tricky at best.

Phaysis
>Ranged Attack (bow)
>Melee Attack (spear)
>Other (?)

Anlanesa
>Melee Attack (axe)
>Ice Giant Form
>Spell/Power (?)
>Other (?)

Janrael
>Melee Attack (longsword)
>Spell/Power (?)
>Other (?)

Safire
>Melee Attack (unarmed)
>Spell/Power (?)
>Other (?)

Enemies
8 Goblins

>Ranged Attack (bow)
>>Spell/Power-Cone of Cold
>Melee Attack (longsword)
>Melee Attack (unarmed)

>Ranged Attack (bow)
>Spell/Power-Cone of Cold
>Melee Attack (longsword)
>Melee Attack (unarmed)

Phaysis
>Melee Attack (spear)

Anlanesa
>Spell/Power (Ice Shield (R))
>Melee Attack (axe)

Janrael
>Melee Attack (longsword)

Safire
>Spell/Power (Scorching Ray)

Phaysis
>Melee Attack (spear)

Anlanesa
>Spell/Power (Ice Shield (R))
>Melee Attack (axe)

Janrael
>Melee Attack (longsword)

Safire
>Melee Attack (unarmed)

Spear (tie-break)
Ice-Shield + Axe (tie-break)
Longsword
Unarmed

Please roll 4d20 to see how well you do

Rolled 2, 7, 6, 14 = 29 (4d20)

Rolled 17, 16, 16, 15 = 64 (4d20)

Rolled 16, 4, 8, 8 = 36 (4d20)

Rolled 15, 19, 8, 19 = 61 (4d20)

nice job

Stabbing your spear into the mid-section of the nearest goblin you quickly pull it out and block the clumsy stab of its buddy, as the first one falls over, gurgling.

Anlanesa smashes her axe into the head of another goblin, dropping it, a spear point stabs uselessly into her icy shield.

Janrael impressively bisects a goblin with her glowing sword and leaps over an attempt to trip her by tangling a spear through her legs.

Safire recovers quickly and slams her fist into the jaw of a goblin, dropping him like a stone. A spear point is thrust into her side, only to be withdrawn with a bent tip. Safire appears unharmed and the goblin stabbing her looks confused.

Echoing yells from the tunnels around you tell you that reinforcements are on the way.

“Alright!” cries Janrael “now it's getting interesting!”

You could simply battle your way forwards, the oncoming reinforcements are probably only goblins after all. Speeds is the key however, perhaps flight is the best option?

You're left facing four goblins – who are starting to realise that they're outmatched – if the wide eyes and fearful looks are any indication.

>Stay and fight the newcomers
>Finish off these four, then flee
>Finish off these four, then hide
>Flee immediately
>Other (?)

>Finish off these four, then flee

>Finish off these four, then flee

>Finish off these four, then flee

>Flee immediately

>>Finish off these four, then flee

>Flee immediately

Beatdown + leggit.

Please roll 4d20 for Perception checks (no roll needed to take down remaining goblins).

Rolled 14, 8, 6, 2 = 30 (4d20)

Rolled 1, 2, 5, 19 = 27 (4d20)

Rolled 13, 11, 15, 19 = 58 (4d20)

thankfully Safire noticed the things before you ran into them

Makes up for her previous blunder at least.

Together you make short work of the remaining goblins – even the one that just can't accept that it's spear can't hurt Safire and keeps on stabbing her with it. In the end she seems almost apologetic as she knocks it down.

“This way!” you yell to the others, beckoning them to follow you as you run away from the sounds coming towards you.

Together the four of you manage to outpace what sounds like several bands of goblins, and end up taking a side tunnel to get much deeper into the dungeon. Hurrying through a long twisting passage way with lots of stalactites and stalagmites you are bought to a halt by Safire yelling “look out!”

Looking around for whatever spooked her you see what you thought was just a collection of rocks coming towards you. Instead it is a pack of dog-sized creatures that a hump-backed and look like a mix of insect and lizard. From their mouths emerge two long waving tentacles with dozens of feathery protrusions.

“What are those?” asks Janrael “Is Calluna designing monsters now?”

The things approach cautiously, waving those tendrils through the air like they're looking for something. They don't appear threatening but this is a dungeon after all...

“Those are rust monsters!” Anlanesa suddenly exclaims.

“The Professor told us about them” says Safire at your side “they eat metal – we should be able to get past them, right?”

Well you should but...

“Remember who designed this dungeon” you say, suddenly feeling suspicious. Slicing a spare strap from your backpack you throw it to the creatures – one eagerly devours it – as soon as its mouth-tendril touches it, the leather starts to dissolve.

You all stare at it.

“Oh that's just great...” Anlanesa draws out the last word “monsters that eat clothes, bravo Daves, well done. Well. Done.”

They don't look aggressive or particularly threatening, but there are a lot of them. Just pushing past them might result in a certain loss of modesty.

“Maybe we should back-track and go around?” Suggests Safire.

Janrael shakes her head “it'll take too long.”

“I'll deal with them” says Anlanesa “a few cones of cold ought to get rid of them all.”

“And exhaust most of your powers.” you point out. Ugh, much as you don't like the idea, in horse form you don't really need much clothing – you could draw them off and let the others get past, better one loses her outfit than all of you.

>Back-track and go around
>Rush through the critters and hope for the best
>Anlanesa wipes them out
>Phaysis acts as decoy
>Other (?)

>Anlanesa wipes them out

>Anlanesa wipes them out

>Anlanesa wipes them out
I kinda wish we had brought Calluna now.

>Calluna raising pet Rust Monster
Hahahaha
Glorious.

>Anlanesa wipes them out
She can always still go Ice Giant mode anyway.

>Anlanesa wipes them out

telling them to chill it is

After a moments thought you nod to Anlanesa “do it.”

Anlanesa unleashes cold blast after cold blast – clearing a path through the creatures and letting you all get past. Once she's fired the last burst of cold you all head through a confusing maze of tunnels, looking for the next obstacle.

At your side Anlanesa confirms she's tapped her powers “no more magic for me today.” she says regretfully. You can sympathise – the more your powers grow, the more you get used to them and want to use them.

[Anlanesa Arcane Energy 0]

Eventually you come to a large cavern which houses a small mound of treasure and valuables – no doubt the goblins hoard of loot.

“Well the rod or book has to be in there somewhere” comments Safire, before looking to you for confirmation “right?”

“Rod probably” says Janrael “I bet their priest or shaman or whatever has the book, and he's not here.”

No he's not, the dragon is though.

In the middle of the caverns ceiling is a thick metal ring set into the stone. From this runs a long chain running down to a collar worn by a red dragon – currently curled up asleep in the treasure pile. It looks somewhat larger than a cart-horse – you'd estimate 7, maybe 8 feet tall at the shoulder. It's hard to say with it laying down. Either way the chain gives it enough room to move around the cavern but not much more. And its on the treasure pile.

“What's the plan?” Anlanesa prompts you.

“Are you joking?” asks Janrael “fighting a dragon is going to be awesome!” Despite the large open space of this cavern she's still looking a little twitchy “don't say you still want to-”

“Do this quickly and quietly and search the pile whilst it's asleep?” Anlanesa suggests “sure.”

“How about we talk to it.” says Safire “I mean she's a prisoner right – maybe we can help her, or him?”

>Search treasure for rod whilst dragon is sleeping
>Talk to it
>Attack
>Other (?)

>Talk to it

>Talk to it
Don't exactly have a good thief among us right now, anyway.

>Talk to it
So "most of" actually meant "all of them".

>Talk to it

diplomacy it is

“Good thinking” you say to Safire with a smile. She perks up a little, happy at your approval, but freezes when you add “Off you go then.”

“Me?” she squeaks “I'm not a- I mean I can't, I-”

“Relax” you say, patting her on the shoulder, and then walking into the room, trying to keep your fear under control, a good leader never asks her followers to do something she wouldn't do herself. You're sure the Professor or one of the other instructors said that to you at some point.

When you're close enough you say “Um, excuse me?”

The dragon cracks open one eye and responds in a surly and deep voice “what?”

Ah, you hadn't really thought of what to say, darn...ah, no, profanity is a sin!

“We were looking for a rod stolen from a wizard” you start “about two feet long, burnished in gold with-”

“Yeah, yeah” says the dragon grumpily “they tossed it in here a while ago, what about it?”

“Um, we need it to complete a quest.” you say “could you maybe-”

The dragon raises its head and gives you a contemptuous look “If I let you take it, they won't feed me, no. I'm not raising the alarm because I hate them, but that's not happening.”

Oh...

“How about if we free you?” you offer.

The dragon picks at the chain with one claw “it's fire-proofed and very strong. I doubt you can help. Still if you could then I'd let you have it.”

You wrack your brain, how can you free this dragon? Wait, he said fireproofed, what about cold-proofed? Anlanesa could chill the chain down enough to make it easier to snap.

And a dragon ally could be really useful....

>Agree to free him in exchange for the rod
>Offer to free him – if he joins you
>Attack
>Other (?)

>Offer to free him – if he joins you

>Agree to free him in exchange for the rod
>Offer to free him – if he joins you

>Agree to free him in exchange for the rod
>Offer to free him – if he joins you
Well, if he doesn't want to join us, he can let us at least have the rod.

him joining you means you get the rod anyway, if that wasn't clear.

>Agree to free him in exchange for the rod

The idea is more trying to convince him to join, and if he doesn't want to to at least give us the rod.

Yes, but we can also try to convince him to join first, and if that fails get the rod.

>Agree to free him in exchange for the rod

Ask him to join you it is, with an option to get the rod if he refuses.

Please roll 1d20 (no mods) for diplomacy

Rolled 1 (1d20)

Rolled 17 (1d20)

Rolled 5 (1d20)

“I think we might be able to free you” you say “but if we did, we'd want something in return.”

“The rod?” grumbles the dragon “fine, if you can free me – though I doubt you can.”

“I was thinking more that you'd help us find the wizards spellbook as well” you say “As well as giving us the rod.”

From the entrance you hear Anlanesa giggle, what is she finding so funny?

“Me, help you?” says the dragon sceptically.

“You want revenge on them don't you?” you ask.

“Of course I do” says the dragon with a snort “but to serve a bunch of humans...no thanks.”

You don't know whether you should be flattered that he sees you as no different from normal people, or offended.

“If we're so unlikely to be able to free you” you say “then what does it matter?”

The dragon sighs “Ok, fine, if you can free me then I promise to help get the etc etc.”

“Anlanesa” you call her forwards “chill the chain would you?”

Grabbing hold of a heavy chain link Anlanesa gives a smug grin as frost starts to form on the metal. Once it's completely covered and has wisps of mist rising from it she says to the dragon “pull.”

With a little help from all of you, the dragon is able to pull on the chain hard enough to break the link – leaving it with the collar and a short length of chain.

It stares at the broken chain disbelievingly “That's...wow.”

Anlanesa's face still bears that smug expression. No doubt she'll be wearing that for a while.

The dragon digs out the rod to give to you as you ask “so what is your name?”

“Long and difficult for you to pronounce” he says “mostly humans call me Furness.”

“Furnace?” you ask, one eyebrow raised.

“A smith found me when I was a hatchling” he says defensively “I helped keep his forge hot, it wasn't a bad job, I got all the coal I could eat.”

Either the Daves have a strange imagination or could this dragon be real? Like the satyrs?

“Well Furnace-” you say

“Furness.” he insists.

“Furness” you correct yourself “what can you tell us about this place?”

“The main goblin chieftain and his guards are usually here” he says, scratching out a small map on the floor, you all gather around it “but the shamans quarters are here, if you sneak around using this side passage, you should be able to catch him alone but reinforcements will quickly arrive from this passage here that connects to the chieftains hall. You'll need to keep them at bay.”

“Ok” you say, looking at the map “So if we all go here, some of us block this passage here and the rest confront the shaman...”

Anlanesa sticks her hand up.

“Yes 'Nesa?” you say.

“Whichever job I get can I go with Furness?” she asks brightly “I've never ridden a dragon before.”

“No riding.” growls Furness. You can sympathise – you don't like being ridden either. Well, maybe a little, but mostly not...ah it's complicated.

“So, the plan is to sneak around the hall and take the shaman on alone, but the chieftain and his guards will quickly respond” you say “we can bottleneck them here. For the two groups...”

Attack The Shaman

>Phaysis
>Anlanesa
>Janrael
>Safire
>Furness

Stop Reinforcements

>Phaysis
>Anlanesa
>Janrael
>Safire
>Furness

shaman
>Phaysis
>Janrael
>Safire

stop
>Furness
>Anlanesa

Attack The Shaman
>Anlanesa
>Safire
>Janrael

Stop Reinforcements
>Phaysis
>Furness

Attack The Shaman
> Anlanesa
> Janrael
> Safire

Stop Reinforcements
> Phaysis
> Furnesse

>Anlanesa
>Furness
>Safire

>Phaysis
>Janrael

Phaysis and Furness on guard duty - others taking down the shaman

Please roll 5d20 for sneaking

Rolled 18, 7, 11, 19, 17 = 72 (5d20)

Rolled 13, 3, 9, 11, 20 = 56 (5d20)

Rolled 9, 1, 13, 19, 7 = 49 (5d20)

18, 7, 13, 19, 20

Together you sneak through the goblin tunnels, avoiding the noisy patrols. As expected you soon end up just outside the shamans private quarters.

You motion the others forwards as you take up position beside Furness, ready to stem the inevitable tide of reinforcements – the two of you should be enough to stop a small army of goblins.

The others head deeper into the cave, heading towards where the goblins shaman is sat next to a book contained in a magical circle, moaning and swaying, foam flecking his lips as he chews on a wad of mushrooms, his closed eyes twitching.

Unfortunately one of the girls kicks over a pile of bones with a noisy clatter and the shamans eyes snap open.

With a flick of his fingers he quickly animates more than a dozen animal and humanoid skeletons – their bones in heaps around the place. Anlanesa grows into her massive ice giant form and the three rush forwards.

At the same time a loud horn-like noise sounds, and you hear yelling coming from the tunnel in front of you.

Tearing your eyes from the battle scene behind you, you ready yourself for the battle ahead.

The first few masses of goblins arrive in disorganised groups, and blasts of fire from Furness are enough to keep them at a distance as you save your arrows. However the next group is far more organised and roll leathery balls towards you, trailing thick smoke. You can hear them advancing, hidden by the smoke. Furness obligingly breathes fire to clear the goblins away again, but as he's recovering and getting ready to spit flame again, the rest charge.

You manage to lose a single arrow and then pull your spear free of its sling on your back. In your centaur form you keep them at bay with your spear and hooves as beside you Furness becomes a whirling fury of claws, teeth and tail.

More and more goblins start to rush forwards, even as their kin fall and pile up in front of you.

Sparing a glance at the battle behind you, a worrying sight fills your eyes: Safe behind a wall of skeletons, the shaman fires blasts of green energy at the girls and keeps raising more undead to slow them down.

Safire smashes them apart with punches and kicks, Anlanesa bulls her way through using her size and Janrael cuts them into pieces with every swing of her sword but there are too many to quickly beat.

You think they'll win through eventually, but it will take time. In-between one wave of goblins at the next you have a moment to make a decision: abandon Furness to fight alone, allowing you to help your friends against the shaman; or to stay where to are, keep the goblins at bay and trust them to win the day themselves.

>Stay with Furness
>Go fight the shaman
>Other (?)

>Stay with Furness

>Stay with Furness

>Stay with Furness

>Stay with Furness
Not much point winning faster and then get overrun from behind.

>Stay with Furness

Please roll 3d20 for those fighting the shaman: Anlanesa, Janrael, Safire

Rolled 5, 10, 10 = 25 (3d20)

Rolled 6, 17, 10 = 33 (3d20)

Rolled 17, 5, 11 = 33 (3d20)

Rolled 7, 13, 7 = 27 (3d20)

Sticking beside Furness the two of you stem the tide of the goblins as best you can. Eventually their numbers start to tell and you both begin to tire – occasional attacks get through and you are both bleeding by the time you hear yells of triumph behind you.

The goblins you are facing fade away, turning you see Janrael holding up the wizards spellbook. Mission accomplished.

XXX

Back at the main camp, after all the teams have had their turn you hear squeal with joy when the results are read out – you won!

Oh sure there's something in there about only having a 15 second lead over the next fastest team, and only a dozen points over another team but still, you won!

It would have been great to stay for the celebrations in the evening, as the club that won both days you're sure that you would have been the centre of attention.

But for some reason, Professor Sallazar insisted on getting an early lightning rail back. You're that a certain late-night card game had nothing to do with that.

Looking out of the window and waving goodbye to everyone, you see a shadow race across the ground, looking up you see Furness circling overhead. Huh, a real dragon. Cool.

XXX

You are Sallazar, a young wizard who has recently left the army. You have taken a teaching job at Egwen Girls Convent.

It has been an eventful weekend and for now you're glad that all the excitement is over, or so you hope. The next day at school a student rushes up to you with a message and explains breathlessly that the Headmaster wants to see you, urgently.

Hurrying to the Headmasters study - after sending the young girl to explain to your next class that you might be a little late – you find the door open and the Headmaster in the midst of a scrying spell – the tell-tale arcane energies dancing around him. Noting your arrival he murmurs a few words and the spell spreads to you as well.

Looking down on a lightning rail rushing along the tracks your point of view rushes down and through the roof only to see a pair of girls from the school: Amara and that girl with the floating head...Caen Kaylin is that her name? Yes, it must be.

“What are they doing there?” you ask. The two are hiding in what looks like the mail carriage. Your point of view sweeps down the train and you see other passengers...being threatened by armed bandits. Your heart lurches in your chest, what have those two gotten themselves in to?

Despite the danger to a pair of your students you still wonder how they managed to accomplish that – everyone said that robbing a lightning rail in motion would be near impossible.

“It's a long story” harrumphs the Headmaster “the short version is I need you to teleport down there, rescue them and bring them home.”

“Crossborder teleportation-” you start to say. Not that you really intend to follow the rules on this one...

“Let me deal with the guild” says the Headmaster, waving a hand dismissively. The scrying vision continues to play up and down the train, and you see the thieves moving from carriage to carriage, it won't be long until they reach the mail carriage.

>Teleport directly to the mail carriage (moving target location, very difficult)
>Teleport nearby and fly on to the lightning rail
>Refuse to go
>Other (?)

>Teleport nearby and fly on to the lightning rail

>Teleport directly to the mail carriage (moving target location, very difficult)

>Teleport directly to the mail carriage (moving target location, very difficult)

>>Teleport directly to the mail carriage (moving target location, very difficult)

>Teleport nearby and fly on to the lightning rail

>>Teleport nearby and fly on to the lightning rail

Split vote huh?

Ok, tie-breaking for safer but slower option, no roll required.

Huh, didn't even notice, would have changed for faster if I had seen it.