Posted: 15 May 2022 (reading time: 9 minutes; 1759 words)
Recap by Arash Shahangian with Melissa Savlov
By way of Thing, Vali has made Vogsal the capitol of the kingdom Alsvartr, even before Belmunt was destroyed and King Torvald likely died with it.
Vali: “I will not be the jarl of Vogsal. That will be Gaettr. We are building three houses: one Great Hall as the seat of the kingdom, one great hall for Gaettr, and Asgardey∂a will have an official hall, a place of residence for you in between your adventures. We extend the patronage of the kingdom to you, including this house.”
After Asgarday∂a’s dream of a feast in Asgard, in which Greunthrn was made a priest of Heimdall’s order, they awake and are told to look outside—and up. They see 16 12-foot copper dragonels flying inbound, 12 of them being ridden by what appears to be humanoid copper dragon-people. Flying next to them is little Karr, who is talking non-stop and looking jovial. He’s got the small, copper warbler flying next to him. Bersi asks if they are here to burn down the village. Belnirith, informed by her link with her raven familiar Asja, assures that these dragonelles come as allies of Asgardey∂a.
The morale of the Vogsal villagers after their former leader Edgar’s defeat had been low, but it has improved markedly, and they now have a new sense of purpose under Vali’s leadership. They are building new structures and fixing up the town. However, when they see the dragonels, they look terrified. Vali advises them to move away from the center of the town and assures their safety, which gives them some mild relief.
When Karr lands, Belnirith, having just imbibed mead, runs over to him and gives him a big, warm hug around his massive, scaled neck. “I’ve missed you, little guy!” Karr greets Asgardeyda with much excitement. The dragonborn, as they are called dismount in heavy-footed lockstep. The squad both impresses and intimidates the villagers. They are all around 7’2” tall. Karr introduces Vali and Asgarday∂a to Kyrjaan, the leader of the dragonborn. The villagers come back around to see what’s going on, including Graklak. Vyshka eyes him, thinking about how she and her elves could make his people beautiful again.
Kyjaan sternly announces “We are the dragonborn monks of Yldryl, Karr’s mother, the Copper Greatwyrm. She wishes to speak to you.”
“My mom isn’t just a dragon, she’s a greatwyrm of the material plane!” Karr says. “She doesn’t just meet with anyone! But she knows you guys saved me. She’s so funny! She’s had a thousand years to hear every joke. She can eat worlds if you piss her off, ha ha. But don’t worry, you won’t.”
Kyrjaan adds: “8 of our fighter monks will stay with you, the people of Vogsal, to teach our ways. The remaining 4 and Karr will join Asgardey∂a as we return to Yldryl."
“These four dragons have volunteered to be your mounts. We are going to fly into the heart of the Iron Mountains. It will be a 4-day journey by air. We’ll need to stop every evening because the dragons cannot fly through the night.”
Kyrjaan points to some saddles with leg holsters and wraps. “The dragons are dragonelles. You can fly them wearing just the leg holsters, to give your torso freedom of movement, but you are likely to fall off. Or you can use the wraps to stay on, limiting your movement. Or you can get tied down completely and you will absolutely not fall off. If you choose this last option, other people will have to tie you in and release you.”
Greunthrn decides to attune to his Ring of Feather Falling and take the first option, as does Belnirith, relying on her daily ability to sprout black, feathered wings in case of emergency. Vyshka opts for the second ‘seatbelt’ wrap option, because she doesn’t want to rely on anyone else to strap her in or get her out. “You can never rely on anyone,” she reminds her companions. Laguna also goes with option two simply because it makes the most sense.
Meanwhile, what appear to be red and purple ‘clouds’ roll in from hundreds of miles away. They look quite menacing and are coming from the direction of Belmunt.
As Karr is listening to Kyrjaan, suddenly he stops and stares at Vyshka, who looks perplexed and uncomfortable. Karr compliments her platinum and copper necklace, mumbling about how he only has a tiny horde, but that would look amazing in it. Vyshka awkwardly huddles inside her wondrous Cloak of Warmth.
Belnirith, who has studied dragon lore, points out that dragons love to collect things of value. So, Belnirith and Greunthrn try to convince Vyshka that she should give the necklace to Karr as an act of goodwill and good faith towards his mother. She becomes quite impatient with their attempts to be diplomatic in convincing her. She brusquely tells them to get to the point and then gives up the necklace without a second thought. She hands it to Belnirith and rolls her eyes at their absurd attempts to ‘persuade’ her. All they had to do was tell her they wanted it. It’s just a necklace after all.
Kyrjaan—who admitted that he hopes Asgarday∂a fails, but nevertheless offers useful advice—suggests that if they plan on asking Yldryl for anything, the more valuable shiny things they can offer to gain her favor, the better. Greunthrn, Belnirith, and Laguza decide to go shopping for more beautiful items to bring to Yldryll. Working together, they find and purchase two pieces of jewelry: Belnirith finds a gold necklace with rubies worth 300gp, and Laguza finds a 700gp worth platinum necklace set with a diamond. They had invited Vyshka, but she huffed “I already gave my necklace! Anyway, I hate shopping. You go. I need to create a sanctuary of our new lodgings, in case we need me to use the Word of Recall spell. It would allow me to transport us back to a safe place if we need it.”
It takes Greunthrn, Belnirith, and Laguza about 3 hours to shop. Laguza also picked up a wood carving during the expedition. After that, they all take off on their dragonels.
Belnirith is fine. Laguza and Vyshka are jostling around a bit as they get used to the experience of flight, but they are holding on tight and have no issues. Greunthrn, however, faceplants upon takeoff. He takes a small blow from the fall, but climbs back onto the dragonel and things go smoothly from there. The monks try not to laugh at him. Eventually, everyone is flying at about 300-350 feet above the treetops.
Greunthrn admires the flying skill of the monks and calls out, “Any pointers?”
Random Monk: “Don’t fall.”
Greunthrn: “Thanks. Super helpful.”
Asgardey∂a fly in the center of the circle of dragonels. Belnirith’s mount is named Qaghar and Vyshka’s is named Sida. By the end of the day, everyone is tired. They’ve essentially been standing all day, wishing they were bowlegged. They all thank their dragons for the ride in their own ways and settle into camp.
The dragons are playing with their food (animals from the nearby woods). The monks are unphased by this, but Asgardey∂a are a bit disturbed. The team settles in and works on quiet evening activities. Laguza is whittling. Vyshka goes into a tree to meditate. Belnirith creates a magical, invulnerable hut. Greunthrn finds a deer and offers it to the dragonborn, as he has heard that the people of that race particularly enjoy meat. He presents it to them and says: “Thank you for your assistance in getting us this far.” They nod appreciatively and accept the deer. Greunthrn then proceeds to prod the dragonborn for tips on riding the dragonels.
That night, during Vyshka’s trance state, Vyshka sees someone … it appears to be an elf, who has purple eyes and coppery-green skin. She is looking directly at Vyshka.
The next morning Belnirith, hungover from the night before, falls off the dragonel during takeoff and laughs at herself drunkenly while climbing back on and settling into the leg straps.
Nearing the Iron Mountains, Greunthrn turns around and sees a couple of huge, winged monstrosities closing in on them. They’re only 100 feet away. They’re twice the size of the dragonels and do not appear to be of this world.
Laguza: “We should get to the ground! Quickly!” But the dragonborn ignore her and drive the group forward at top speed. Belnirith throws a fireball, which seems to do little more than annoy them and spur them to advance even more quickly. She wants to try throwing a web at them, but there’s nothing to tether the webs and hold them. Greunthrn is quite persistent in advising them all to focus on flying away as quickly as possible. The group is still a few hours from the base of the Iron Mountains. The horrors move astoundingly fast. They close in on the group in less than a minute.
Kyrjaan yells something in Draconic, then turns his dragonel around to face these monstrosities. He pulls his longbow out, looking incredibly fierce, and fires one arrow, but it goes long. He fires another arrow which hits true, and the creature appears strangely intimidated. Greunthrn blesses the dragonborn warriors and inspires the dragonborn Prax to fire an arrow at the more wounded monstrosity.
The horrors attack, their tails grappling the dragonborn Gilmunk, then Greunthrn. Asgardey∂a and the dragonborn fight back. Vyshka’s spiritual weapon looks like a dragon with Thor’s face. She places it between the dragons. Everyone is fighting. Eventually, Belnirith banishes the less wounded horror back to its home plane, freeing Greunthrn in the process. He and the dragonborn rain arrows on the remaining horror. Then, Laguza lands massive blows on it, dropping it out of the sky to its earthbound demise. What had started as a collision against seemingly insurmountable odds became a surprising victory.
As the group alight on the foothills of the Iron Mountains to rest for the evening, a massive, 20-foot-tall giant with bruised, purple skin and wart-like blisters deforming its features wearing robes over golden armor streaked with black, wielding a huge staff of ebony and mithril approaches them and says “I am the Herald of Blood. It has been decreed that this world is to be destroyed by the Great Ones, so you all must die. I do not want to make trouble with your mother, Karr, so you can go home. But everyone else, you are marked for blood.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
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