The wilderness holds other dangers—threats more frightening than an angry weredapuss—that might harm dragonkin when they travel the wilds. Creatures so foul, they display only one aspect of a Beast. A giant spider: no hooves, no wolf snout, no feathers...just a creepy and monstrous spider. A beast so frightening that most drakes would flee in fear when they encounter it!
As Jørmund and Cascade approached the shield wall, Cascade dropped her Marine Layer to allow the archers to let fly one more volley, slowing down the attackers just long enough to get the last two members of the party behind the shield wall. With everyone safe and sound, they all headed deeper into the campsite to where the counter attack was being mustered.
However, now that the adrenaline of sudden battle has worn off, the fact that all of you had just been getting ready to settle in for the night reasserts itself and you all begin to feel the weight of exhaustion bearing down on you.
As you arrive at the mustering ground, you immediately take note of two sights of interest.
One sight is that of a female simic hybrid standing on a box barking orders at those around her. Judging by the fact that those who respond to the hybrid's barking with some variation of the words "Yes boss!", this woman is the leader of the highwaymen.
The other sight is a large table of potions manned by a trio of goblins. A cardboard sign hangs off the front of the table with the words "Zing! A ful nite's rest in just fertee secundz! Onlee 30 gold peesiz a botul!CUMPLEETLEE FREE UNTIL FITE IZ OVUR!" crudely painted onto it. A group of tired looking people stand in front of the table. Each person takes a bottle from the table and drinks it. A few seconds later, strange things happen to each person who drinks the potion. One drinker grows a beard made of feathers that explode out from his face when he sneezes a moment later. Another vanishes without a trace for six seconds before reappearing as if he had never left to begin with. And a third becomes surrounded by faint, ethereal music. But despite these strange effects, the drinkers all had one thing in common: Every one of them started looking a lot less sleepy a few moments after the dealing with the initial oddness.
All party members now have one level of exhaustion. Those who drink a bottle of Zing roll 1d100 and remove the aforementioned level of exhaustion.
Skobeloff was barely able to keep his composure when he realized what he was dealing with. A bearded dragon who had become her Shadowself? Skobeloff could barely contain his excitement at the thought of matching wits with a bearded dragon who had fallen under the sway of the Darkness! Even so, Skobeloff let none of his excitement show as he let out a yawn and affected the demeanor of someone who was beginning to feel somewhat tired. "Now that you say it... yeah, a little nap sounds like a great idea." Skobeloff drowsily declared. "Lead the way."
As he followed Fogdance to wherever it was that she was keeping Tamba and Pleexem, Skobeloff pretended to become more and more sleepy as time went on. Eventually, Skobeloff pretended that he was too tired to move and asked Fogdance if she would carry him the rest of the way. When the older dragon obliged, Skobeloff pretended to fall asleep soon after, resting his head against Fogdance's carapace. In truth, Skobeloff did this so that he might listen to the beating of Fogdance's heart in an effort to determine how the Darkness had managed to find purchase there and how he might be able to drive it away.
Skobeloff studies Fogdance. He rolls an 8 and figures out how he could get Fogdance to return from her Shadowself
It's not abura-age, but wow, it smells really good. And I bet it tastes even better! Skobeloff said to Fogdance with a grateful smile before turning his attention to the porridge. "Itadakimasu!" With that said, Skobeloff's tail whipped upwards and in Fogdance's direction, catapulting the pixie dust he'd picked up earlier into the dragon's eyes. With Fogdance's mind temporarily clouded by the dust, Skobeloff sprang into action. The young drake dashed about the room, hiding away the bowl of porridge, finding a different bowl that looked like the porridge bowl and putting it on the table, quickly yet thoroughly covering his tracks, and scrambling to get back in his seat just in time for Fogdance to return to her senses to see nothing out of the ordinary as Skobeloff eagerly licked his bowl of porridge clean. "That was great!" Skobeloff exclaimed with a satisfied grin as he lifted his head out of the bowl. "Maybe House Tessith isn't so wrong after all... or at least they know how to do food right."
Skobeloff attempts to trick Fogdance into thinking he ate the porridge. He rolls a 12 and chooses to learn a valuable secret and confuse Fogdance for some time
"Well, if you're offering, I'm definitely not gonna say no to food and water." Skobeloff said in response to Fogdance offering him something to eat and drink. "As for who I'm with and how I got here... I came to the island with the rest of my clutch and a bearded dragon named Garrock. We were checking on why the mainland stopped hearing from you and why the island looks like it's trying to feed itself to the Cloudstalker. When we landed on the beach, our seer had all these uh-oh visions about trouble everywhere, so we decided I'd check the stronghold while everyone else handled the other messy stuff. Then I hiked through the wilds, outsmarted a tricky pixie, turned into a gust of wind for a bit, and somehow ended up right here, bumping into you and... whoever it is you're talking to that I can't see."
As Skobeloff spoke, he began to study Fogdance again. This time, he was on the lookout for any indication of the older dragon's motivations or intentions, especially if the aforementioned motivations or intentions pertained to him in some way.
Skobeloff studies Fogdance. He rolls a 9 and learns what Fogdance wants from him.
Member
RPM,
Angel Vicky,
tadcfnaf,
xVampire3go,
Guardian Angel Haruki,
fellsing,
D3AD ST4R,
Kaithe Dame,
Ohm,
PrinceAlexus
