Underfed (part 4)

The Agony Engine.

That's what Ilwa called it when you set out on this quest into the deserts of Veyshan with an eaglerin guide. There's a nobleman, an undead 'mummy' from the tale you've been told, who's duhg up a kulthian relic and is seeing it delivered from the deserts into the hands of the so-called DIamond Emperor, where it will be safely transported to Charn. An engine that runs on pain, collects it, and uses it to pow-er artifice.

There's no way Charn can be allowed to have that. What you've been told is that the mummy is way out of your weight class. Powerful and to be avoided at all cost, your job is to simply destroy the engine and then get the hell out of there. It's in a caravan, heading deep along the desert roads to an outpost belonging to the Diamond Emperor, a mysterious figure who's allied with elementals and mantis-men and bandits across the deserts of Veyshan.

Your guide is leading you through ruggged, brutal canyons and chasms and climbs. They had been flying to make the passage easier, right up until an animate cactus monster shredded their pinioons and wings, costing you a vital advantage and making the going slower than you'd like. You're still gaining ground on the location of the caravan according to them by taking this route, as the roads must circuit where you cut across, but it's costly and the pressure is on.

You've recently retired to a cave alongside the face of one cliffside and it is that night time watch that you heard the greatest rumbling, like thunder but... alive.

So much stuff was left behind in the wagon. Alaryn has been lamenting this, and muttering about how useful this or that item would have been on the trip. But in truth, she has most of what she needs. She just -wants- everything. She can't sell stuff and has no place to put newly acquired stuff without her wagon!

"Those people had better be taking good care of my mules." she mutters as she trudges along, enjoying the effects of her Endure Elements effect.

Seldan has made this entire trip with Veyshanti-style desert clothing covering most of his face and skin; those who know him will know that there is ample reason why, and the ice-blue eyes that are the only visible part of him hints at that reason. He had been sitting with his longsword across his lap, but now stands, the sheathed weapon in hand. "Quiet," he murmurs, very low. "Something is out there."

Victor comes out of the resting state that passes for War Golem sleep. He turns his head this way and then and then moves over to stand next to Seldan, peering out of the mouth of the cave entrance. "Indeed," he nods to Seldan. "Do you recognize the sound?"

Nasrin is seated with her back against one wall of the cave, her drum cradled in her lap. For oncer, perhaps mercifully, the Cleric of Kor is not playing any music, instead deep in apparent thought. This lasts right to the moment where the world outside begins to rumble. She rises to her feet slowly and begins to look around slowly, checking her surroundings beforem oving to the entrance. "There's always something out there. I wonder if it wants to pick a fight."

Toha has wrapped linens that match the general colors of the terrain around her body where she could, to keep from gleaming under the sun, or had someone cake mud on parts where wasn't a workable solution. She's generally been chattable, occaisionally relating some story or other, like making new faces for some golems, or discussing some kind of artifice idea to whomever has the inclinations to listen. Now, though, she, like Victor is coming back to awareness at the subdued hubub, "What's up?" she asks as she pushes off from the wall.

GAME: Seldan rolls perception: (18)+2: 20

GAME: Victor rolls perception: (13)+6: 19

Like Victor, Seldan steps towards the mouth of the cave, long enough to peer out. There's a flash of lightning, and almost at once, he whisks himself back inside and stands with his back to the cave wall, looking at the entrance, sheathed weapon in both hands, eyes wide. He mouths, but does not say, _dragon_.

GAME: Alaryn rolls perception: (6)+9: 15

With everyone else seeming to get ready for what Alaryn can only call.. defensive stupidity. Okay, defending the campsite isn't stupid. Details! Either way, she heads over to her bedroll and lifts her thunderbelcher, checking to make sure it's primed and ready before moving towards the entrance... she doesn't lift it yet. Just.. has it ready because you don't point a weapon until you're ready to use it!

"...what? What's there?" says the eaglerin, K'narp, nursing their bruised wings. They sit up, peering out at the rest of you.

GAME: Nasrin rolls perception: (8)+3: 11

Victor holds out a hand. "Some winged creature." He uses a very soft voice. He hesitates snd then adds, "Draconic wings, not feathered."

....and then the sky lights up with fire.

For a moment.

Welp, /that's/ a definitely good indication that Seldan and Victor might be right.

"So, we are staying in here and waiting for whatever that is to go somewhere else. Right?" asks Alaryn softly. "Or are we purposefully being idiots instead?" she asks with a grin.

Her eyeslit can't widen. It would as soon as Toha recognized Seldan's mouth motions translate as 'Dragon', otherwise. Instead, her posture straightens a bit, and without a word, she turns back to her spot of wall and takes up the oil blackened length of recurved steel, springs and pulleys that make up her shortbow. An arrow is nocked, but the weapon is held low and -not- under load, so it doesn't creak. Then, it brightens outside. That's probably bad. Potentially good, but likely, yeah, bad.

Seldan doesn't move as the firelight flashes outside. He stays pasted to that back wall, silent, but nods at Victor's words. _Dragon,_ he mouths again, not even attempting to voice it. He doesn't even unsheathe the blade. He waits, as silently as he possibly can.

Victor glances at the cave opening, trying to judge if the creature they saw will fit inside. "Then again," he whispers, "If it is breathing fire, it might be safer outside."

GAME: Toha rolls perception: (14)+6: 20

GAME: Alaryn rolls perception: (14)+9: 23

GAME: Seldan rolls perception: (15)+2: 17

GAME: Victor rolls perception: (9)+6: 15

GAME: Nasrin rolls perception: (3)+3: 6

There's more fire lighting up the sky. It's not like dragons are out thre, breathing fire for no reason, but the sky above is definitely orange now in places like a sunset and it shouldn't be.

It's, after all, only approaching /sunrise/.

But now you can all see it. The dragon's shape is backlit by the flames and it seems to be making maneuvers, as if its dive bombing one of the ravines, breathing fire into it. Hopefully it won't pick your's for next as that would be bad.

Very bad.

Lifting her Thunderbelcher, Alaryn aims down the long barrel and eyes the flying creature. "Yep. Red dragon. It's... attacking someone or something over there. Do we care who or what it's attacking?" she asks, following the creature with the barrel of her weapon.

Seldan gives Alaryn a look that could melt lead as she speaks, and puts a finger silently to his lips, but nods an affirmative at the question. He doesn't elaborate, seeming to prefer silence to a detailed response.

Toha doesn't have hand-talking down, and she can't do silent mouth charades, so the best she can do is 'whisper', "Two prospects. One, it's lookin' fer us, and it'll smoke us out an' roast us. Two, it's after our target, and we'll just have t'mop up, if it don't fly off with th'damn thing."

"Seriously, it's something like half a mile off, breathing fire. I hardly think that it'd be listening for whispered voices in a cave all the way over here." That said, Alaryn shrugs, "Seriously, it's attacking someone else, and you think they're being quiet?"

Victor gives Seldan a curious look. Then he glances towards K'nap, their alleged guide. "Are dragons common in this area?" He peers back at the others. "We can't hope to fight it...but can we distract it? Draw it into a selected location and then hide ourselves...?"

"Perhaps," Seldan whispers, the very action conceding the point, "but the first is less likely if it does not realize we are here." He glances again at the entranceway. "It attacks our target, or alerts us to another force. If it discovers us, we are lost."

"...n-n-no," says K'narp, eyes wide as he stares out of the cave. "I mean, there's a Chance of Dragons anywhere but and it's a big desert but I think we're very unlucky. Unlucky or the Diamond Emperor has a dragon on his payroll and it's here to burn us out."

"If that's so, we should scurry quiet-like over to where Red there's already fried everything." Her head pivots toward the guide, "Is there a road over that way?" She looks down at her bow, then steps toward the lip of the cave, but tries to stay out of sight.

Seldan takes a moment or two to think, and when he speaks again, it's in a whisper. "An elder dragon is unlikely to stoop to be on a payroll, especially of a human. A deal perhaps. It could also simply burn anything or anyone that crossed it." He's still whispering. "There is no guarantee that it is us that it seeks, but if it finds us, it may burn us for fun. They are sharp of eye, and if we move, it must be carefully. If we are discovered, we are lost."

Victor still seems to be thinking about how to respond. "If we cannot determine why it is here and what its intentions are, then we cannot decide what to do." He glances around the cave interior. "Perhaps we are better served waiting here."

K'narp makes a cooing sound of discomfort. "I do not know. I can not tell you what to do. The risks are great no matter what."

The dragon is still winging around out there, perhaps waiting to see the effects of its latest blast of fire. Then again, it can't breathe fire /constantly/. There are gaps.

"IF only I could still fly!"

GAME: Toha rolls perception: (19)+6: 25

"It's not engagin' anything. At least nothin' that can reply, it's probly scouring the chasms." Toha asides while she continues to observe, "There a way we can make the dragon not see this cave?"

"I mean, we could collapse it and dig ourselves out?" says K'narp, warily.

Victor examines the roof of the cave mouth. He begins walking around to view from different angles, although he avoids the entrance itself. "Our chances of survival would be better than if the dragon catches sight of us," he finally concludes.

"Can we afford the time to dig ourselves out and still catch the caravan?" Seldan shakes his head. "We wait, or we move. Can we leave without being seen?"

Victor lends his strength to any effort to rearrange the cave furniture. When they've done everything they can he retreats to the innermost portion of the cave, as per the plan. He stands in a corner, growing so still that he could just as easily be a statue.

After some minutes of consideration, Seldan shakes his head. "We cannot leave without being seen, and we dare not risk being caught on the cliff face. I say we barricade the entryway." So saying, he puts his hands together and murmurs a few words, then spreads them out palm-down. Beneath his hands, a disk of shimmering blue-silver light forms, and he nods satisfaction. "We'll use this to carry rocks to the front." As he does so, he suits actions to words and begins to load the disk.

Toha, having little else to contribute besides strength, gathers what materials she can, while being mindful of Big Red's turn radius. With what preparations the situation allows the group complete, she hunkers down, even pulling her back-fastened weaponry to lay beside her and pressing her cheek against the floor to try and get as flat as she can. Nothing left but for the waiting. Pain, pain go away, come again some other day....

This area is huge.

Which is why you even have /time/ to work on this problem. The sun's rise continmues and soon you've at least offered yourself a little more shelter which... is not terrible.

But the dragon is looming closer, chasm by chasm...

GAME: Seldan casts Floating Disk. Caster Level: 1 DC: 14