The island of l’wakanaan was shaped like an upside down L. The dwarfs occupied the flat northern end of the island, the volcano sat on the corner, and the eladrin colony lay at the southern end of the long peninsula. “Could we not borrow a boat to go to the eladrin?” “No, the High Lord had answered, “See, the foulspawn have used that trick before. They sailed around both ends of the island. One group waited for the other to make its attack then went in pretending to be the dwarfs looking for assistance. So now we wait 7 days before contacting them by ship.” A rather ridiculous method, I thought. I mean, the dwarfs could signal each other around the volcano, but not the eladrin? But the dwarfs insisted, and our ship needed fixing, so we set out on the long, rocky, alternately boggy trek overland.
The first day was uneventful. Nothing to see but masses of tropical vegetation, huge bright flowers, and the occasional gorgeous ocean views. Early on the second day, we heard voices arguing in common. “Mine,” shrieked one voice. “No it’s mine,” called a second. Both of you are wrong. It will be mine.” The exchange was followed by shrieking and the sounds of scuffling. Yvala was about to creep forward when Kalena stopped her. “No need to sneak up. I can tell from the scuffling noises, it’ll be harpies. Listen to the way they squawk as they screech.” The rest of us agreed and we all crept close to get a better angle on the group. Karel charged into the middle of the trio, spouting fire in the hope of chasing the harpies off without a fight. The harpies were loath to give up their prize of two boars. They scratched at Karel but only got a few attacks in before the rest of us arrived. The harpies were no match for the six of us and we were soon on our way again.
The rocky path ran down into another swampy lowland. “Stay alert through here,” Karel said as he took the lead. Yvala was the first to spot another group of the lizardmen we had encountered on first exploring I’wakanaan. “These buggers move way too fast through the marshes to attack. We draw them to us,” Markas said before busying himself by casting a protective aura over the party. Karel and Yvala loaded up arrow and bolt and fired once they were satisfied the rest of us were ready. The lizardmen squawked at us and charged through the marsh muck. We were more than ready this time and were able to land some good attacks before they reached our position. This group of lizards had some sort of shaman with them. The shaman conjured up a smelly gas that boiled up from the swamp underfoot. “Hey, that’s my trick,” exclaimed Kalena as she silenced the shaman with a fireball. The rest of the lizardmen fell to blows from Karel and Markas.
The path climbed out of the swamp into a series of black rock bluffs overlooking the ocean. As we came around one particular bluff, we saw a group of humans setting up a fire. Apparently foulspawn weren’t the only things to have been drawn to I’wakanaan, as the humans were wearing the purple robes of the cult of Torog. Unfortunately one of the cultists caught sight of us as we tried to slip back around the corner. “Ready the ballista!” cried Karel. “We have no ballista, you bloody rock-crazed dragonborn!” I replied as I drew up a battle-prayer. “Well now would be a good time to use one,” he replied, ignoring my sarcasm and adding none of his own.
Yvala stopped one cultist with a bolt through the eye but none of us were quick enough to stop a group of 4 from slitting their throats. “I heard snatches of their suicide chant,” said Kalena as she loosened a cloud of dagger. “Then there’ll be a grell there soon enough. Be a dear and conjure up something to greet it with,” I said. “If Karel and Markas occupy it, I’ll cast sleep, but I can only cast after it appears.” “Understood, wizard,” one of the fighters called back and the two cut a swath through the cultists. Yvala and I followed cleaning up the stragglers, while Vixi positioned herself beside Kalena and fired spells at anyone who aimed at the wizard.
When the grell rose, Kalena’s spell hit. It fell asleep after a small thrashing attack, and we took the opportunity to take it out before it woke. The remaining cultists were rather infuriated that we had taken out their summoned beast so quickly and in desperation, threw everything they had at us, stupidly standing their ground. Not that it mattered much. We looked through the cultists’ measly belongings and decided that this was a decent place to camp for the night.
The morning hike greeted us with more lush greenery and black cliffs. As we came to the top of a hill, Karel brought us to a halt, shushing the conversation Kalena and Vixi had been having about the local flora. Yvala snuck a peek over the hill to see 2 eladrin and 5 purple robed cultists. After deciding nothing good could come of such a conversation, Yvala opened fire with her crossbow. The rest of us charged in and repeated the last battle almost exactly, with the exception of restraining the two eladrin rather than killing them. After all, they might have been enchanted by the cultists, but I still was not going to turn my back on them.
The eladrin eventually came around but they weren’t talking to us. We debated about what to do with them. Yvala was perfectly fine with leaving them there. I was a little concerned about leaving them to the elements, but not much. She must be rubbing off on me. The rest of the party didn’t really care either way but was enjoying listening to us argue. Our problem was soon solved by a group of 30 eladrin walking through clearing at the bottom of the hill.
They spotted us, hailed us, and walked to our position. The leader, a tall eladrin with steel grey hair, walked up to Karel and held out his hand. “Thank you, stranger. You’ve captured the traitors we were hunting for. These two have been trying to align themselves with these bastard cultists.”
“You are welcome, friend. It is our pleasure to kill any cultists that strive to take over another’s home,” said Karel. “I can only assume that you are the shipwrecked travelers that we expected to receive in a few days.” He noticed the shocked look on Markas’s face. “Oh, those dwarfs. They think we can’t read their signals. We sent a ship over with repair items and carpenters to repair your ship. Honestly, we were just waiting for you to arrive since we didn’t know exactly what route you had taken.”
“Come on, we’ll give you some decent food before sending you back to the dwarfs and your ship.”
As we were walking, Kalena’s curiousity got the better of her. “There’s one thing I don’t quite get. We fought many of the same creatures on the island where we met Karel. Do you also come from the same homeland?”
“We heard rumors that a gold dragon was taking eggs and fleeing to a new home as we departed the Southern Continent, but we dismissed it as a desperate hope of a fleeing people. Aye, Torog drove us from our home as well as from our homeland. And now they have followed us here. But we’ll fight them for now and one day we’ll be able to return home.”
“And the dwarfs?” I asked. “I think they will be content to stay on I’wakanaan. They have adapted and are content to worship the volcano gods. But we eladrin only wish to go home.”
As we feasted with the eladrin, we tried to convince them to come to Perinor. Despite our best persuasions, they refused, citing the fact that they had already moved their civilization once. We boarded the Southern Stream and continued on to the Danarian coast.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Aloha Island
With the ship partially out of the water, Captain Raccan and his crew were able to assess the damage. To fix the damage, we would need to find metal fittings, strapping, and sealant. We were discussing the possibility of people on the island when we heard an explosion and saw a plume of smoke rising in the air. As we watched, the smoke changed colors in an orderly pattern. Friendly or not, the explosion was our best chance at help and we followed a small stream inland.
The stream led us into a bit of swampy lowland. Over the whine of mosquitos, we heard several voices arguing in draconic. One voice said, “This is a good kill.” And a second slurred, “Go to the clearing.” Yvala shrugged off her pack and snuck to the edge of the tree line. She reported back that six lizardmen were standing around a large animal they had hunted. They didn’t seem all that friendly, but it’s not unheard of for such lizardfolk to be open to trading with non-swamp dwellers. Karel stepped forward with his longbow nocked, but held loosely in his hand, his other arm raised in a greeting. Markas followed him, also giving a friendly wave. Alas, the lizardmen were unimpressed and they charged across the open swamp with an ease born of traveling through it their whole lives.
Kalena threw up a cloud of stinking gases, which did a great deal in blocking their movement and allowing us to get a few extra hits in. The lizardmen were no match for us and we soon defeated them. A path on the far side of the clearing led to higher ground. Eager to avoid more of the lizardmen, we followed it. Happily, I noted that it was steadily climbing up above the treeline to the spot where the smoke signal had been released.
The trail ended at an outpost two-thirds of the way up the island’s central peak. Three wooden buildings sat on a natural shelf, with a cave leading into the mountain beyond. The cave mouth had a series of intricately carved totems depicting splashing waves, huge flowers, and angry little men with big heads and sharp teeth.
Ten dwarfs milled around. They were by far the strangest dwarfs I had ever seen. Their hair was cropped short and the piles of braids on the females’ heads were far shorter than expected. Their clothing was brightly colored cloth, there was barely any armor on any of them. The loose shirts and skirt were decorated with the same motifs as on the cave mouths, favoring the flowers.
Naturally, they’d been watching our progress and yelled something in dwarven at us once we reached the ledge. Karel stood firm at the head of the group and replied, “I am sorry but we do not speak that language.” “Then you, friend, are a barbarian,” says the same dwarf that spoke before. Vixi looked curiously at the dwarfs and whispered to me, “I’ve never seen a dwarf before. They don’t all look like this, do they?” “These are the only ones I’ve seen dressed this strangely,” I said with a laugh. Poor Vixi, her father never let her out much. At least she’s exploring now, I thought.
By now, Karel had gotten frustrated with trying to talk to the dwarfs. He waved a hand back at the dwarfs, muttered, “Fine” and started back down the trail. I grabbed his arm as he walked by. “Come on, don’t leave.” “They think I’m an idiot.” “You know that’s not true,” I replied.
Up the hill, Kalena noticed that the dwarfs were watching Karel with interest. “Hey, would you like to meet him?” she asked. Another dwarf bobbed his head enthusiastically. “He is the color of the fiery ones.” “See, they do want to meet you,” I told him as he went back to the dwarfs. Several of the braver ones came forward and oohed and ahhed over his color. They kept going on and on about the fiery ones.
Meanwhile, Yvala was getting frustrated with their lack of forthcoming. She adjusted her armor for a bit more exposure and sauntered up to one of the dwarfs. “We’re lost and stranded and could really do with some help and information.” “Aye, lass, go on,” he said as he stared unashamedly at her breasts, which were right at his eye level. “We saw a signal come up. Was that you?” “Yes, we saw the ship come in and we signaled to the main village on the other side of the island.” “Is the village large? Our ship is badly in need of repairs.” “Well, why didn’t you say that. We can lead you through the passage in the morning. But now we will have a feast to honor the fiery ones!”
Strange though they looked, the dwarfs definitely knew how to party. They brought out a smoked pig to heat over the fire and spent half the night dancing and singing songs of praise about the fiery ones. Turns out that these dwarfs had been like most others long ago. They had lived on a continent to the south, but 100 years ago, creatures of all sorts began attacking their homeland. Creatures with mottled skin and twisted limbs. They fled north until they found this island. Naturally, the creatures followed, but the fiery ones came to their rescue, hurtling fire and driving away the enemy. The dwarfs settled and now mine inside the volcano and worship the fiery ones and the volcano as gods.
In the morning, one of the dwarfs led us to the entrance. “I can only go with you so far, as I must return to the guardpost.” A couple hundred yards in, he opened a secret passage in the rock wall. This will lead you through the mines in the heart of the volcano. It’s a 2 day walk, but the village is easily spotted on the other side. They know you are coming. As long as you stay away from the fiery ones and others, you’ll be fine.” With that, he turned and left us in the passage.
We began the slow hike through the warm passages. It was easily 100 degrees inside and I was sweating inside my armor. It was easy to see why the dwarfs wore cloth. We took short breaks as we walked, making sure to drink as much as possible. Sometime around what would have been nightfall, we debated about stopping for the night, but the temperature was so uncomfortable that we decided it was better to walk through the night.
Around midnight, the mountain began to shake. We huddled against one of the walls and luckily nothing fell on us. As we continued walking, Kalena remarked, “Is it just me, or is it getting warmer?” “I don’t know; it’s hard to tell in all this armor,” I moaned. “Possibly,” said Vixi. “It does seem to be glowing more than usual ahead,” I said. Sure enough, several chambers ahead, one of the walls had fallen, revealing a lake of magma. We walked around the chamber, sweat pouring off of our bodies. Everyone seemed nervous. “Do you think the fiery ones are angry with us being in their mountain?” I asked. “Why?” said Vixi, “would they be mad at us. They let the dwarfs mine.” “Yeah, but we aren’t worshippers!” “She has a point,” said Kalena. “Shush,” said Markas. “There’s another opening ahead.”
There was indeed another break in the corridor wall. This time 6 glowing creatures stood in the hallway. Their skin was dark with a multitude of glowing orange cracks running over their bodies. They were looking at something down the other way. “They’re magma beasts. They come from the chaos of volcanic areas,” Kalena said. “And they’re known to eat humans alive,” she added with a gulp.
“Guess we don’t have a choice to take them out first,” Yvala said as she pulled out a dagger and her crossbow. “Sure hope these aren’t the fiery ones.”
The beasts hurled balls of magma made of their own flesh, but they were slow and easier to avoid than other things we’d had thrown at us. It also helped that part of our group was fire resistant. At the end of the fight, we were a little crispier, but no worse for wear otherwise.
The bodies left nothing but coals and ashes behind, but we could see what they had been after. A door had been set into the stone wall. As we walked forward, the ground started to shake again. “I sure hope those weren’t the fiery ones,’ I repeated. The shaking subsided and we sent Yvala to check for traps. “Nothing I can find,” she reported. Karel pulled on the handle and we found ourselves looking at a hallway identical to the one we had entered through.
The sun was just setting as we left the confines of the tunnel. There were no dwarfs to meet us, something I found odd after our reception on the other side. A short way down the mountainside, we could see a small shrine. Even from where I stood, I could tell it was a combined shrine from the symbols of Moradin and the dancing flames and idols that intermingled on the walls. A path down to the harbor could be seen and we took it down to the harbor.
As we came around the corner, the harbor came into view. I gasped. I couldn’t help it. Smoke rose from various areas and fire balls were being hurled toward the harbor. The whole scene was lit by a river of lava flowing down the mountainside. “Oh no, we’ve angered their gods,” said Markas “Relax,” said Yvala, “the other guy said there would be hostile beasts inside the mountain. We did nothing wrong.” “Still,” added Kalena, “it may not be a bad idea to be cautious. The locals could be agitated.”
We walked carefully into the harbor town, bewildered by the fact that there were still no dwarfs to be seen as the six of us came smack into a group of something most of us never thought we’d see again-Foul Spawn. “Fires of the Host!” shouted Karel, “Where are my ballista?” The foulspawn were just as surprised to see us and bolted down the left hand alley. Karel charged after them with a growl and the rest of us followed. “This guy is worse than Kyri and the drow!” panted Kalena. “Give him a break,” I said. “He’s been fighting them his entire life.”
We shortly caught up with Karel, who was attacking the grue of the group with roars of pleasure. The fight was short. After having fought plenty of foulspawn in the tunnels, we knew all of their tricks. Karel seemed disappointed that the fight had been so short and dug idly through their packs of sea rations. “Cowardly spawn,” he grumbled. He looked up at us with a gleam in his eye. “I thought you had never seen their like before?” “And it’s still true,” said Vixi, “this is the first time we’ve ever been to this island.” “Perhaps the forces of the Crawler also followed them from the south,” I said. “It’s quite possible you are both of cultures that fled the Southern Continent,” Kalena added. “The only thing I ever saw before I joined with this lot was Asmodeous cultists,” Yvala chimed in as she cleaned her nails with the tip of her dagger. Karel nodded, “Ah, yes, another scab on the world that Asmodeous. You did well to escape from that place.”
Yvala’s answer as interrupted by a party of dwarfs coming down the street. “Excellent,” said one, “I see you have taken care of this lot.” The dwarfs were dressed in the same bright manner as the dwarfs on the other side of the island. “I expect that you just came through the mountain. “Yes,” answered Markas, “Is there a problem?” “No. We had warning from the outpost that you would be coming that way. It is fortunate that you have arrived as such a time for you are blessed to see the fiery ones in action. See how they throw their fiery balls at our enemies?” Indeed out in the harbor, 5 ships were burning merrily. Dwarfs on the beach were slaying any foulspawn stupid enough to go ashore.
The party brought us to the Dwarf High Lord. “Thank you for your work. My men tell me that you slew a party of foulspawn. Most excellent.”“Perhaps you have heard of the plight of our ship then?” Markas asked. “Yes. We can give you the strapping, metal fittings, and timber, but for the sealant you’ll have to travel to the eladrins on the other side of the island. But we can tell you more of that in the morning. Please, join us. Part of the cleanup is a party.” The dwarfs piled foulspawn onto a bonfire and danced all night. Roast pigs and fruit were brought out.
“Say what you want about the strangeness of these dwarfs, but they sure know how to throw a party,” said Yvala, as she left with another dwarf she had enticed.
The stream led us into a bit of swampy lowland. Over the whine of mosquitos, we heard several voices arguing in draconic. One voice said, “This is a good kill.” And a second slurred, “Go to the clearing.” Yvala shrugged off her pack and snuck to the edge of the tree line. She reported back that six lizardmen were standing around a large animal they had hunted. They didn’t seem all that friendly, but it’s not unheard of for such lizardfolk to be open to trading with non-swamp dwellers. Karel stepped forward with his longbow nocked, but held loosely in his hand, his other arm raised in a greeting. Markas followed him, also giving a friendly wave. Alas, the lizardmen were unimpressed and they charged across the open swamp with an ease born of traveling through it their whole lives.
Kalena threw up a cloud of stinking gases, which did a great deal in blocking their movement and allowing us to get a few extra hits in. The lizardmen were no match for us and we soon defeated them. A path on the far side of the clearing led to higher ground. Eager to avoid more of the lizardmen, we followed it. Happily, I noted that it was steadily climbing up above the treeline to the spot where the smoke signal had been released.
The trail ended at an outpost two-thirds of the way up the island’s central peak. Three wooden buildings sat on a natural shelf, with a cave leading into the mountain beyond. The cave mouth had a series of intricately carved totems depicting splashing waves, huge flowers, and angry little men with big heads and sharp teeth.
Ten dwarfs milled around. They were by far the strangest dwarfs I had ever seen. Their hair was cropped short and the piles of braids on the females’ heads were far shorter than expected. Their clothing was brightly colored cloth, there was barely any armor on any of them. The loose shirts and skirt were decorated with the same motifs as on the cave mouths, favoring the flowers.
Naturally, they’d been watching our progress and yelled something in dwarven at us once we reached the ledge. Karel stood firm at the head of the group and replied, “I am sorry but we do not speak that language.” “Then you, friend, are a barbarian,” says the same dwarf that spoke before. Vixi looked curiously at the dwarfs and whispered to me, “I’ve never seen a dwarf before. They don’t all look like this, do they?” “These are the only ones I’ve seen dressed this strangely,” I said with a laugh. Poor Vixi, her father never let her out much. At least she’s exploring now, I thought.
By now, Karel had gotten frustrated with trying to talk to the dwarfs. He waved a hand back at the dwarfs, muttered, “Fine” and started back down the trail. I grabbed his arm as he walked by. “Come on, don’t leave.” “They think I’m an idiot.” “You know that’s not true,” I replied.
Up the hill, Kalena noticed that the dwarfs were watching Karel with interest. “Hey, would you like to meet him?” she asked. Another dwarf bobbed his head enthusiastically. “He is the color of the fiery ones.” “See, they do want to meet you,” I told him as he went back to the dwarfs. Several of the braver ones came forward and oohed and ahhed over his color. They kept going on and on about the fiery ones.
Meanwhile, Yvala was getting frustrated with their lack of forthcoming. She adjusted her armor for a bit more exposure and sauntered up to one of the dwarfs. “We’re lost and stranded and could really do with some help and information.” “Aye, lass, go on,” he said as he stared unashamedly at her breasts, which were right at his eye level. “We saw a signal come up. Was that you?” “Yes, we saw the ship come in and we signaled to the main village on the other side of the island.” “Is the village large? Our ship is badly in need of repairs.” “Well, why didn’t you say that. We can lead you through the passage in the morning. But now we will have a feast to honor the fiery ones!”
Strange though they looked, the dwarfs definitely knew how to party. They brought out a smoked pig to heat over the fire and spent half the night dancing and singing songs of praise about the fiery ones. Turns out that these dwarfs had been like most others long ago. They had lived on a continent to the south, but 100 years ago, creatures of all sorts began attacking their homeland. Creatures with mottled skin and twisted limbs. They fled north until they found this island. Naturally, the creatures followed, but the fiery ones came to their rescue, hurtling fire and driving away the enemy. The dwarfs settled and now mine inside the volcano and worship the fiery ones and the volcano as gods.
In the morning, one of the dwarfs led us to the entrance. “I can only go with you so far, as I must return to the guardpost.” A couple hundred yards in, he opened a secret passage in the rock wall. This will lead you through the mines in the heart of the volcano. It’s a 2 day walk, but the village is easily spotted on the other side. They know you are coming. As long as you stay away from the fiery ones and others, you’ll be fine.” With that, he turned and left us in the passage.
We began the slow hike through the warm passages. It was easily 100 degrees inside and I was sweating inside my armor. It was easy to see why the dwarfs wore cloth. We took short breaks as we walked, making sure to drink as much as possible. Sometime around what would have been nightfall, we debated about stopping for the night, but the temperature was so uncomfortable that we decided it was better to walk through the night.
Around midnight, the mountain began to shake. We huddled against one of the walls and luckily nothing fell on us. As we continued walking, Kalena remarked, “Is it just me, or is it getting warmer?” “I don’t know; it’s hard to tell in all this armor,” I moaned. “Possibly,” said Vixi. “It does seem to be glowing more than usual ahead,” I said. Sure enough, several chambers ahead, one of the walls had fallen, revealing a lake of magma. We walked around the chamber, sweat pouring off of our bodies. Everyone seemed nervous. “Do you think the fiery ones are angry with us being in their mountain?” I asked. “Why?” said Vixi, “would they be mad at us. They let the dwarfs mine.” “Yeah, but we aren’t worshippers!” “She has a point,” said Kalena. “Shush,” said Markas. “There’s another opening ahead.”
There was indeed another break in the corridor wall. This time 6 glowing creatures stood in the hallway. Their skin was dark with a multitude of glowing orange cracks running over their bodies. They were looking at something down the other way. “They’re magma beasts. They come from the chaos of volcanic areas,” Kalena said. “And they’re known to eat humans alive,” she added with a gulp.
“Guess we don’t have a choice to take them out first,” Yvala said as she pulled out a dagger and her crossbow. “Sure hope these aren’t the fiery ones.”
The beasts hurled balls of magma made of their own flesh, but they were slow and easier to avoid than other things we’d had thrown at us. It also helped that part of our group was fire resistant. At the end of the fight, we were a little crispier, but no worse for wear otherwise.
The bodies left nothing but coals and ashes behind, but we could see what they had been after. A door had been set into the stone wall. As we walked forward, the ground started to shake again. “I sure hope those weren’t the fiery ones,’ I repeated. The shaking subsided and we sent Yvala to check for traps. “Nothing I can find,” she reported. Karel pulled on the handle and we found ourselves looking at a hallway identical to the one we had entered through.
The sun was just setting as we left the confines of the tunnel. There were no dwarfs to meet us, something I found odd after our reception on the other side. A short way down the mountainside, we could see a small shrine. Even from where I stood, I could tell it was a combined shrine from the symbols of Moradin and the dancing flames and idols that intermingled on the walls. A path down to the harbor could be seen and we took it down to the harbor.
As we came around the corner, the harbor came into view. I gasped. I couldn’t help it. Smoke rose from various areas and fire balls were being hurled toward the harbor. The whole scene was lit by a river of lava flowing down the mountainside. “Oh no, we’ve angered their gods,” said Markas “Relax,” said Yvala, “the other guy said there would be hostile beasts inside the mountain. We did nothing wrong.” “Still,” added Kalena, “it may not be a bad idea to be cautious. The locals could be agitated.”
We walked carefully into the harbor town, bewildered by the fact that there were still no dwarfs to be seen as the six of us came smack into a group of something most of us never thought we’d see again-Foul Spawn. “Fires of the Host!” shouted Karel, “Where are my ballista?” The foulspawn were just as surprised to see us and bolted down the left hand alley. Karel charged after them with a growl and the rest of us followed. “This guy is worse than Kyri and the drow!” panted Kalena. “Give him a break,” I said. “He’s been fighting them his entire life.”
We shortly caught up with Karel, who was attacking the grue of the group with roars of pleasure. The fight was short. After having fought plenty of foulspawn in the tunnels, we knew all of their tricks. Karel seemed disappointed that the fight had been so short and dug idly through their packs of sea rations. “Cowardly spawn,” he grumbled. He looked up at us with a gleam in his eye. “I thought you had never seen their like before?” “And it’s still true,” said Vixi, “this is the first time we’ve ever been to this island.” “Perhaps the forces of the Crawler also followed them from the south,” I said. “It’s quite possible you are both of cultures that fled the Southern Continent,” Kalena added. “The only thing I ever saw before I joined with this lot was Asmodeous cultists,” Yvala chimed in as she cleaned her nails with the tip of her dagger. Karel nodded, “Ah, yes, another scab on the world that Asmodeous. You did well to escape from that place.”
Yvala’s answer as interrupted by a party of dwarfs coming down the street. “Excellent,” said one, “I see you have taken care of this lot.” The dwarfs were dressed in the same bright manner as the dwarfs on the other side of the island. “I expect that you just came through the mountain. “Yes,” answered Markas, “Is there a problem?” “No. We had warning from the outpost that you would be coming that way. It is fortunate that you have arrived as such a time for you are blessed to see the fiery ones in action. See how they throw their fiery balls at our enemies?” Indeed out in the harbor, 5 ships were burning merrily. Dwarfs on the beach were slaying any foulspawn stupid enough to go ashore.
The party brought us to the Dwarf High Lord. “Thank you for your work. My men tell me that you slew a party of foulspawn. Most excellent.”“Perhaps you have heard of the plight of our ship then?” Markas asked. “Yes. We can give you the strapping, metal fittings, and timber, but for the sealant you’ll have to travel to the eladrins on the other side of the island. But we can tell you more of that in the morning. Please, join us. Part of the cleanup is a party.” The dwarfs piled foulspawn onto a bonfire and danced all night. Roast pigs and fruit were brought out.
“Say what you want about the strangeness of these dwarfs, but they sure know how to throw a party,” said Yvala, as she left with another dwarf she had enticed.
Tangled Up in Knots
Sylirix was unable to offer her help to Perinor at this time. She had far too much trouble with the foulspawn drawn to the portal in her basement to leave the island of Trion just yet. But, were we able to close the portal, she would be more than willing to add her brood and herself to our quest. For now, our plight was intriguing enough that she sent one of her number with us.
“Karellastian,” she called out to her brood. “I have a quest for you.” A gold scaled dragonborn, taller than most, stepped forward. He had a greatsword slung across his hip and a longbow strapped across his back. Like his brothers, he wore a red tabard with two gold and silver dragons on the front. He knelt before the gold dragon. “As you wish, Mother. What am I to do?” Serelix smiled warmly down on him. “My son. The fight for our new island is a valiant one, but if we cannot close the portal, the foulspawn will continue to come through it and the Torog cultists will continue to be drawn to it. We cannot continue to wait for help, as it appears the world at large knows little of our plight. I am sending you with these humans on their quest. Perhaps along the way you will encounter someone who is capable of closing the portal.”
Sylirix looked up at the order. “Should you help my son and find a way to close the portal, we will crush the forces of the Far Realm and of the Crawler Below. Then we will aid you in the crushing defeat of that whore-goddess Tiamat.” She roared and her brood roared with her. “Now I must return to the work of crushing these pathetic cultists. A few of my order will escort you back to your ship.”
We boarded the Southern Stream that night and Captain Raccan set a course for Perinor on the dawn tide. We got calm waters and fast winds all the way into Aurincia. The ride did give us time to get to know Karel. Turns out that the paladins had only been on the island about 20 years. Forces of Torog had taken over their homeland in the southern tropics. Sylirix, sensing everything would soon be lost, took as many dragonborn eggs as she could transport and fled. She found the island of Trion and settled in to recreate her lost society only to find a portal to the Far Realm. Resolved to cleanse the foulspawn from the world she created the castle and began hatching the dragonborn, raising them to be her warriors. Karel himself was a bit of an outcast among his brothers—instead of a paladin, he was mainly a fighter. His divine path through clerichood was almost an afterthought.
We were greeted at the Aurincian docks by a party of 10 mounted elves. Two were dressed in robes of exquisite quality while the rest wore the shining silver armor that denoted bodyguards of the High Elven Council. “Kylira Banndilues, you are summoned to take your place on the council by the High Chancellor herself.” Those of us on deck looked at Kyri in surprise. We’d known she was noble but none of us had guessed she was this high. Kyri looked at the speaker with something that wasn’t quite a sneer. “I suppose Mother sent you here to prevent me from slipping out of port. Never fear, Iamlaon, my bags are packed as you can plainly see-and I am ready to do my duty to the elven council.” She mounted the extra horse and the party headed off.
Aurincia was still under repair. Most of the major buildings still had major damage but I was pleased to see that most of the residential areas had been rebuilt. We headed first to the palace to relate the tales of Vertinia and Trion to the High Council and the King. They accepted the news that we would get no help from Vertinia with alarm and surprise. That a gold dragon could come to our aid was favorable, but none of the magical advisors could tell us anything about closing a portal to the far realm. They dismissed us with word that the Southern Stream was being reprovisioned and orders to head west.
We had just over a day to ourselves in Aurincia. I had hoped it would have been more. I had wanted to go to Far Port to see my family and assure them I was ok. As it was, I would have to leave my letters at the temple of Kord. Eager to be apart from each other for the night, the party split to the different districts of the capitol city. Yvala scrambled off to one of the seedy parts of town to sample the gossip and the “local flavors.” Maybe she’s right that I do need to loosen up, but I had other things to do that night. Kalena disappeared to the university district to study portal closure. Wouldn’t be surprised if she shows off her expanded capabilities as well, I thought wryly. Vixi disappeared without telling anyone what she was up to, while Markas peeled off for the temple of the Raven Queen. Karel had nothing to do, so I offered to bring him with me to the temple of Kord. At least there would be other dragonborn there for him to talk to, and I knew enough draconic that we could actually talk as we walked.
Karel had been most surprised that we had gone to a group of humans for advice and to make our report. He wondered why we did not go to our dragon. I told him gently that Perinor had no dragon ruler and few dragons in general. He thought over this for a minute, then politely informed me that we would do very well to have a dragon in charge and that he would take it upon himself to get us one once we had found a way to close the portal.
The temple of Kord was bustling, as one would expect when there was an ongoing and upcoming war. Quite a few of the paladins had gone with the majority of the dragonborn to help Garn retake Arborea. I noticed more offerings than usual at the public altars but otherwise the place was fairly empty.
I was leading Karel to the barracks when I was stopped dead in my tracks by a female paladin. Brina was a human, a couple years older than myself. While we had gotten along well enough, we weren’t exactly friends. “Great Kord! Is that our little cleric Tavia? Look at you! I barely recognize you. You finally look like a war cleric, and not some pansy medic.” She punched a hand on my shoulder hard enough that I stumbled back onto Karel. “Jordan said you were running with the Order of the Rampant Dragon and that you were at the first battle of Aurincia, but it was so incredulous that I didn’t believe them. I thought to myself, ‘Tavia? Our Tavia? Ridiculous, there’s got to be another.’ But here you are.” She ran an appraising eye over me and my companion. “They’ve got a shield on you and your chain has taken some hits. And a mace. Damn, no one thought you’d pick up a real weapon after that botched job with the deva five years ago. But can’t stand here chatting. I’m being assigned to another group to head up to Arborea.” She hit my shoulder again and was off.
“What interesting friends you have,” said Karel after she left. “Just ignore her and everything she said,” I replied tersely, as I tried not to think of how sweet bashing Brina against the stone hallway would be. I blamed all the time spent with Yvala for the fact that I was having thoughts like that one more often. I poked my head into the room and was happy to see one of the dragonborn I knew fairly well. “Dranth. Good to see you. We have a visitor; his name is Karel and I was hoping there was a spare bunk to put him in for the night.” He smiled and said “Sure, Tavia. Are you off to see Jordan?” I nodded. “Go ahead. I’ll help him out.” I thanked him, introduced Karel, and headed to the War Chamber to make my report.
The Southern Stream sailed with the tide the next night with the blessings of clerics of Kord and Melora for safe travel. It seemed that this time the blessings did no good. Three days out one of the sailors shouted for us to look at a spot of churning water off the port side. Tentacles as thick as tree trunks rose from the water. Yvala threw a few daggers but the arms barely flinched. They swept across the ship, knocking into everyone and everything. The tentacles reached around the ship and began squeezing. The screech of timbers was horrific and we threw everything we had at the monster.
The tentacles that weren’t busy trying to crush the ship continued to whip across the decking. Karel and Markas bravely ran forward to fight at the railing to give the rest of us the chance to go after the body. It worked for a while until the squid’s tentacles wrapped around the paladin and fighter. We eventually freed Markas, but Karel kept being hooked every time he got free. Eventually, the squid got tired of us or one of us managed to get in a hit that rattled its little brain and the squid let go and slowly sank under the ocean waters.
The boat was badly damaged by the squid and we would have to land immediately. Fortunately, there was a small island with a black cloud covered peak that we had been watching on the horizon. It took a day and a half, sailing as slowly as possible to reach the island. It was a lush tropical place, with steep black cliffs covered in greenery. A small cove held a sandy beach and we maneuvered the ship inside it to survey the damage.
“Karellastian,” she called out to her brood. “I have a quest for you.” A gold scaled dragonborn, taller than most, stepped forward. He had a greatsword slung across his hip and a longbow strapped across his back. Like his brothers, he wore a red tabard with two gold and silver dragons on the front. He knelt before the gold dragon. “As you wish, Mother. What am I to do?” Serelix smiled warmly down on him. “My son. The fight for our new island is a valiant one, but if we cannot close the portal, the foulspawn will continue to come through it and the Torog cultists will continue to be drawn to it. We cannot continue to wait for help, as it appears the world at large knows little of our plight. I am sending you with these humans on their quest. Perhaps along the way you will encounter someone who is capable of closing the portal.”
Sylirix looked up at the order. “Should you help my son and find a way to close the portal, we will crush the forces of the Far Realm and of the Crawler Below. Then we will aid you in the crushing defeat of that whore-goddess Tiamat.” She roared and her brood roared with her. “Now I must return to the work of crushing these pathetic cultists. A few of my order will escort you back to your ship.”
We boarded the Southern Stream that night and Captain Raccan set a course for Perinor on the dawn tide. We got calm waters and fast winds all the way into Aurincia. The ride did give us time to get to know Karel. Turns out that the paladins had only been on the island about 20 years. Forces of Torog had taken over their homeland in the southern tropics. Sylirix, sensing everything would soon be lost, took as many dragonborn eggs as she could transport and fled. She found the island of Trion and settled in to recreate her lost society only to find a portal to the Far Realm. Resolved to cleanse the foulspawn from the world she created the castle and began hatching the dragonborn, raising them to be her warriors. Karel himself was a bit of an outcast among his brothers—instead of a paladin, he was mainly a fighter. His divine path through clerichood was almost an afterthought.
We were greeted at the Aurincian docks by a party of 10 mounted elves. Two were dressed in robes of exquisite quality while the rest wore the shining silver armor that denoted bodyguards of the High Elven Council. “Kylira Banndilues, you are summoned to take your place on the council by the High Chancellor herself.” Those of us on deck looked at Kyri in surprise. We’d known she was noble but none of us had guessed she was this high. Kyri looked at the speaker with something that wasn’t quite a sneer. “I suppose Mother sent you here to prevent me from slipping out of port. Never fear, Iamlaon, my bags are packed as you can plainly see-and I am ready to do my duty to the elven council.” She mounted the extra horse and the party headed off.
Aurincia was still under repair. Most of the major buildings still had major damage but I was pleased to see that most of the residential areas had been rebuilt. We headed first to the palace to relate the tales of Vertinia and Trion to the High Council and the King. They accepted the news that we would get no help from Vertinia with alarm and surprise. That a gold dragon could come to our aid was favorable, but none of the magical advisors could tell us anything about closing a portal to the far realm. They dismissed us with word that the Southern Stream was being reprovisioned and orders to head west.
We had just over a day to ourselves in Aurincia. I had hoped it would have been more. I had wanted to go to Far Port to see my family and assure them I was ok. As it was, I would have to leave my letters at the temple of Kord. Eager to be apart from each other for the night, the party split to the different districts of the capitol city. Yvala scrambled off to one of the seedy parts of town to sample the gossip and the “local flavors.” Maybe she’s right that I do need to loosen up, but I had other things to do that night. Kalena disappeared to the university district to study portal closure. Wouldn’t be surprised if she shows off her expanded capabilities as well, I thought wryly. Vixi disappeared without telling anyone what she was up to, while Markas peeled off for the temple of the Raven Queen. Karel had nothing to do, so I offered to bring him with me to the temple of Kord. At least there would be other dragonborn there for him to talk to, and I knew enough draconic that we could actually talk as we walked.
Karel had been most surprised that we had gone to a group of humans for advice and to make our report. He wondered why we did not go to our dragon. I told him gently that Perinor had no dragon ruler and few dragons in general. He thought over this for a minute, then politely informed me that we would do very well to have a dragon in charge and that he would take it upon himself to get us one once we had found a way to close the portal.
The temple of Kord was bustling, as one would expect when there was an ongoing and upcoming war. Quite a few of the paladins had gone with the majority of the dragonborn to help Garn retake Arborea. I noticed more offerings than usual at the public altars but otherwise the place was fairly empty.
I was leading Karel to the barracks when I was stopped dead in my tracks by a female paladin. Brina was a human, a couple years older than myself. While we had gotten along well enough, we weren’t exactly friends. “Great Kord! Is that our little cleric Tavia? Look at you! I barely recognize you. You finally look like a war cleric, and not some pansy medic.” She punched a hand on my shoulder hard enough that I stumbled back onto Karel. “Jordan said you were running with the Order of the Rampant Dragon and that you were at the first battle of Aurincia, but it was so incredulous that I didn’t believe them. I thought to myself, ‘Tavia? Our Tavia? Ridiculous, there’s got to be another.’ But here you are.” She ran an appraising eye over me and my companion. “They’ve got a shield on you and your chain has taken some hits. And a mace. Damn, no one thought you’d pick up a real weapon after that botched job with the deva five years ago. But can’t stand here chatting. I’m being assigned to another group to head up to Arborea.” She hit my shoulder again and was off.
“What interesting friends you have,” said Karel after she left. “Just ignore her and everything she said,” I replied tersely, as I tried not to think of how sweet bashing Brina against the stone hallway would be. I blamed all the time spent with Yvala for the fact that I was having thoughts like that one more often. I poked my head into the room and was happy to see one of the dragonborn I knew fairly well. “Dranth. Good to see you. We have a visitor; his name is Karel and I was hoping there was a spare bunk to put him in for the night.” He smiled and said “Sure, Tavia. Are you off to see Jordan?” I nodded. “Go ahead. I’ll help him out.” I thanked him, introduced Karel, and headed to the War Chamber to make my report.
The Southern Stream sailed with the tide the next night with the blessings of clerics of Kord and Melora for safe travel. It seemed that this time the blessings did no good. Three days out one of the sailors shouted for us to look at a spot of churning water off the port side. Tentacles as thick as tree trunks rose from the water. Yvala threw a few daggers but the arms barely flinched. They swept across the ship, knocking into everyone and everything. The tentacles reached around the ship and began squeezing. The screech of timbers was horrific and we threw everything we had at the monster.
The tentacles that weren’t busy trying to crush the ship continued to whip across the decking. Karel and Markas bravely ran forward to fight at the railing to give the rest of us the chance to go after the body. It worked for a while until the squid’s tentacles wrapped around the paladin and fighter. We eventually freed Markas, but Karel kept being hooked every time he got free. Eventually, the squid got tired of us or one of us managed to get in a hit that rattled its little brain and the squid let go and slowly sank under the ocean waters.
The boat was badly damaged by the squid and we would have to land immediately. Fortunately, there was a small island with a black cloud covered peak that we had been watching on the horizon. It took a day and a half, sailing as slowly as possible to reach the island. It was a lush tropical place, with steep black cliffs covered in greenery. A small cove held a sandy beach and we maneuvered the ship inside it to survey the damage.
The Golden Horde
I woke up to a stinging cheek and Yvala yelling at me. “Wake up you Gods damned cleric or so help me I will use your body as a shield!” “What the hell Yvala!” I said slapping her hand away and blinking in the sudden light of the torch. “Not now. Yell at me later. Markas can’t take many more blows.” My mind was still foggy and I just stared at her. “What?” I asked, thoroughly confused. “Just go save his scrawny ass,” Yvala said as she yanked me to my feet and shoved me in the direction of the half-elf. I blinked a couple of times and finally the fog began to clear. Markas came in focus just in time for me to see a blow from a wight bring him to his knees.
I rushed over to his side and ran a hand over him, letting the healing energies flow into the worst of his wounds. Kord, bring back his strength to finish the fight, I prayed. The wights had taken the opportunity to close in around Markas and myself but Kalena blasted them away with a thunderwave. “You certainly picked a good time to wake up.” “Thank Yvala for waking me.” I said as I pulled him up. A green fletched arrow thudded into the skull of a wight next to me as I formed up back to back with the paladin. Since the rest of the party didn’t have to worry about protecting me, they turned their attention to the wights and the grue leading them. The fight was over quickly.
“So what the hell happened?” I said as I whirled about on Yvala. “You still owe me an explanation for slapping me.” I added as I jabbed a finger at her chest. She dismissively slapped my hand away and gave me an airy little laugh. “Well it worked, didn’t it? I was going to resort to stabbing you through the hand if it didn’t.” Her face softened, just a little. “Good thing you woke up when you did, too. As for what happened, I don’t really know. That’s more your expertise than mine. All of a sudden you just passed out on us. We tried waking you where you fell, but there are too many of these foulspawn crawling through the tunnels for us to stay in one place for long. We’ve been carrying you along for the last 2 hours, right up to the point where we ran into these wights.” “Guess I owe you thanks then.” I said. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure you’ll be lugging my butt out of a tavern at some point.”
At that point Kalena could no longer contain herself and insisted on looking me over now that I was awake. As she did I mediated on what had happened to me. Why on earth would I just pass out? A mental attack? A smell? Was someone attempting to dominate me? I still haven’t come up with an answer that I’m satisfied with. But, as Yvala said, this was certainly not the place to sit and think.
The dirt tunnel abruptly broke into an open air courtyard. A blank granite monolith dominated its center, but the door on the back wall was far more interesting. It had been bricked up long ago, but now pulsed with energy. Black and purple tendrils of misty light showed through cracks in the brickwork. I looked at Kalena and saw that her eyes had gone wide as she bounced lightly on her toes. “It’s a portal to the far plane,” she said with more than a little awe in her voice. “It must be what the foulspawn and the cultists are after and what the paladins are protecting.”
Kyri and Yvala slunk into the courtyard to check out the other tunnels on the outer wall. As they did, a ghastly wail rose up in the corridor behind us. A tall female foulspawn was leading two males and several swarms of bugs. Markas stepped back to block the corridor and Kalena roasted the group with a fireball to give us time to get into position.
Being so close to the portal drove the foulspawn into a berserk frenzy. The fight went on a little longer than normal and we ended up with a few extra bruises, but shattered carapaces and the severed heads of the male foulspawn covered the brick floor. The female was a little smarter than the others and ran back down the dirt tunnel. Despite a couple of arrows and crossbow bolts lodged in her back, she made it around the corner before we could drop her. Shame too. She’d been wearing an interesting set of armor that had done something to our ranged spells.
Yvala and Kyri probably would have chased her down if it hadn’t been for the gold dragonborn that had started to spill out of the corridors into the courtyard. Drawn by the noise, they came out with weapons up and teeth bared. “Drop weapons,” shouted Kyri to the rest of us. Markas was a little slow so I elbowed him in the back. “We aren’t your enemies,” I said to the paladins in draconic. “Look at the corpses at your feet.”
They steered our group to one side of the courtyard, as a gigantic gold dragon swept down for the battlements and landed in the clearing the paladins had created. “I have guessed that you are not our enemies. You are persistent to be sure, but you have made no move to attack my sons. Whether you are the friends you claim to be remains to be seen.”
”I am Sylirix, gold matriarch of the Southern Continent. I have been on this isle for many years, protecting this portal from those who would use it for evil. Should the Torog high priests have access to it, they would open it and summon things most foul into our world. My brood and I have been the only things holding the cultist and the foulspawn back.”
“Why not just close the portal?” asked Kalena , somewhat timidly. “Alas, its aberrant nature makes it impossible for my magics to work on it, not that such a thing has stopped me from trying.” “Would it be possible for us to look at it?” “Of course my dear, have a look.”
Kalena moved up to the portal and examined it from top to bottom. She even wove a couple of spells to glean magical information. After a while she shook her head sadly and said to Sylirix. “No, I don’t have the skills to close such a portal.”Sylirix looked disappointed at our failure to fail the portal. “Ah well, if I cannot close it, certainly do not feel badly that you cannot. Come with me inside. We have more to discuss and I’m sure you could do with some food.” Sylerix singled out a few of her brood. “Argos, lead our guests to the dining chambers. Garothor, take your squad and collapse the tunnels the foulspawn have been digging.” With those commands the gold dragon spread her wings and flew off to survey the battlefields.
I rushed over to his side and ran a hand over him, letting the healing energies flow into the worst of his wounds. Kord, bring back his strength to finish the fight, I prayed. The wights had taken the opportunity to close in around Markas and myself but Kalena blasted them away with a thunderwave. “You certainly picked a good time to wake up.” “Thank Yvala for waking me.” I said as I pulled him up. A green fletched arrow thudded into the skull of a wight next to me as I formed up back to back with the paladin. Since the rest of the party didn’t have to worry about protecting me, they turned their attention to the wights and the grue leading them. The fight was over quickly.
“So what the hell happened?” I said as I whirled about on Yvala. “You still owe me an explanation for slapping me.” I added as I jabbed a finger at her chest. She dismissively slapped my hand away and gave me an airy little laugh. “Well it worked, didn’t it? I was going to resort to stabbing you through the hand if it didn’t.” Her face softened, just a little. “Good thing you woke up when you did, too. As for what happened, I don’t really know. That’s more your expertise than mine. All of a sudden you just passed out on us. We tried waking you where you fell, but there are too many of these foulspawn crawling through the tunnels for us to stay in one place for long. We’ve been carrying you along for the last 2 hours, right up to the point where we ran into these wights.” “Guess I owe you thanks then.” I said. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure you’ll be lugging my butt out of a tavern at some point.”
At that point Kalena could no longer contain herself and insisted on looking me over now that I was awake. As she did I mediated on what had happened to me. Why on earth would I just pass out? A mental attack? A smell? Was someone attempting to dominate me? I still haven’t come up with an answer that I’m satisfied with. But, as Yvala said, this was certainly not the place to sit and think.
The dirt tunnel abruptly broke into an open air courtyard. A blank granite monolith dominated its center, but the door on the back wall was far more interesting. It had been bricked up long ago, but now pulsed with energy. Black and purple tendrils of misty light showed through cracks in the brickwork. I looked at Kalena and saw that her eyes had gone wide as she bounced lightly on her toes. “It’s a portal to the far plane,” she said with more than a little awe in her voice. “It must be what the foulspawn and the cultists are after and what the paladins are protecting.”
Kyri and Yvala slunk into the courtyard to check out the other tunnels on the outer wall. As they did, a ghastly wail rose up in the corridor behind us. A tall female foulspawn was leading two males and several swarms of bugs. Markas stepped back to block the corridor and Kalena roasted the group with a fireball to give us time to get into position.
Being so close to the portal drove the foulspawn into a berserk frenzy. The fight went on a little longer than normal and we ended up with a few extra bruises, but shattered carapaces and the severed heads of the male foulspawn covered the brick floor. The female was a little smarter than the others and ran back down the dirt tunnel. Despite a couple of arrows and crossbow bolts lodged in her back, she made it around the corner before we could drop her. Shame too. She’d been wearing an interesting set of armor that had done something to our ranged spells.
Yvala and Kyri probably would have chased her down if it hadn’t been for the gold dragonborn that had started to spill out of the corridors into the courtyard. Drawn by the noise, they came out with weapons up and teeth bared. “Drop weapons,” shouted Kyri to the rest of us. Markas was a little slow so I elbowed him in the back. “We aren’t your enemies,” I said to the paladins in draconic. “Look at the corpses at your feet.”
They steered our group to one side of the courtyard, as a gigantic gold dragon swept down for the battlements and landed in the clearing the paladins had created. “I have guessed that you are not our enemies. You are persistent to be sure, but you have made no move to attack my sons. Whether you are the friends you claim to be remains to be seen.”
”I am Sylirix, gold matriarch of the Southern Continent. I have been on this isle for many years, protecting this portal from those who would use it for evil. Should the Torog high priests have access to it, they would open it and summon things most foul into our world. My brood and I have been the only things holding the cultist and the foulspawn back.”
“Why not just close the portal?” asked Kalena , somewhat timidly. “Alas, its aberrant nature makes it impossible for my magics to work on it, not that such a thing has stopped me from trying.” “Would it be possible for us to look at it?” “Of course my dear, have a look.”
Kalena moved up to the portal and examined it from top to bottom. She even wove a couple of spells to glean magical information. After a while she shook her head sadly and said to Sylirix. “No, I don’t have the skills to close such a portal.”Sylirix looked disappointed at our failure to fail the portal. “Ah well, if I cannot close it, certainly do not feel badly that you cannot. Come with me inside. We have more to discuss and I’m sure you could do with some food.” Sylerix singled out a few of her brood. “Argos, lead our guests to the dining chambers. Garothor, take your squad and collapse the tunnels the foulspawn have been digging.” With those commands the gold dragon spread her wings and flew off to survey the battlefields.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
