Dragon Madness!
Aug. 23rd, 2008 06:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terryclothLast night we had a session of the shadake game. It was full of dragons. Mostly, dead dragons, but there were some baby dragons too.
As the party finished looting the sorry excuse for a dragon's hoard (due to the dragon being (a) enslaved and (b) long dead) and returned to the acorn, another dead dragon was suddenly tossed at them. Or at least, in front of them -- it was Gerard (not his real name, but the name they'd been given), eviscerated. Oh, and there was Mirnath, not dead or eviscerated, but hovering overhead, demanding the water from the fountains they'd been visiting.
"This is what I've been waiting for," the fish whispered to Kit, "Just get me close enough, and I'll trigger the spell we designed to kill Mirnath!"
So Kit gathered up samples of water from the three fountains they'd visited since Mirnath last took water from them -- corruption, youth, and now luck -- and approached the dragon. When he got close, the fish darted right into Mirnath's mouth and exploded.
A lot.
Doing enough 'permanent damage' (also known as disintegration) to not only kill Mirnath (by disintegrating everything inside his skull, which it was not powerful enough to penetrate), but also vaporize Kit. And all his equipment. Again.
Unfortunately, it also summoned Adam, who was nearby disecting the crystal spider on level 1. Adam shouted that he 'smelled the presence' of his hated enemy, and attacked.
Cho decided that he needed a powerful body for this sort of thing, and possessed Gerard's corpse, standing the eviscerated dragon up on its hindlegs and combining powers with Leen to blast Adam astrally, over and over. Each shot wounded him, and Adam and Cho were so desperate to kill each other (Adam *really* wanted to cut off Cho's arm, since Cho had cut off his) that they ignored everything else and spent Karma and fatigue and burned their stats to throw the deadliest attacks (and the most desperate dodges) that they could muster.
Mira was thus unmolested, and was able to fire a bunch of random caster shells at Adam's whirlwindy physical form. One of them summoned a ghost... oh look, it's Mirnath's ghost! Fortunately, for the party, Adam attacked Mirnath and got the ghosty dragon attacking him as well.
And Bob was free to desperately call for the Grandmaster of the Church of the Eternal Void, who arrived and started tossing his own deadly spells at Adam. One of his spells, as an incidental side effect, shredded Mirnath's soul, killing the dragon thoroughly. It also pissed off Adam, who swatted him like a bug. As he died, the last-ditch desperation spell he'd promised never to cast went off, destroying the souls of everyone linked to Adam.
Which included Kit. But luckily, Kit was conscious and could resist -- because when he'd died this time, the luck water and corruption water and youth water (all also vaporized) had combined to make something *really weird* happen to him, and he'd instantly reincarnated in the body of an unborn dragon hatchling... Gerard was pregnant, and just about to lay his... er, her eggs, when Mirnath gutted her. So he'd 'hatched' in Cho's eviscerated belly, and tumbled to the ground during one of Cho's desperate dodges.
Without material components or skill boosting items, in an unfamiliar body, and without massive reserves of Fate to burn (because unlike Cho he hadn't drunk the lucky kool-aid), he'd realized that he had no hope of shifting the course of the battle, and had animated Mirnath's corpse as a steed to carry him away from the battle. Only to get hit by the 'destroy anyone linked to Adam' spell, which he barely managed to resist, thanks in part to his link to Adam being fairly weak, as those things go.
But most of the people linked to Adam did *not* resist, and were destroyed -- which in turn, nearly destroyed Adam. Another astral-lightning-and-ice storm from Cho and Leen pushed him to the brink of doom, and the monstrous astral THING fled for his life. Cho could tell that he was fleeing to Ankh Morpork.
So, they'd won. For the moment. Cho decided to explain what exactly was going on with Adam -- Adam was really 'Adamant Dominion', the idea that one person should rule over all over people. Cho, likewise, was the idea that there was only a single True God. (so presumably, his full name was 'Chosen One' or something) The Grandmaster's spell had probably killed off almost all leaders in the world, and a good many other people besides... the war between Taforia and Razia was probably over, for example. But it hadn't managed to kill EVERYONE linked to Adam, so Adam still existed.
But still, they were relatively safe, at least for a few days. Now they just had to harvest the scales and bones from two dead (but animated) dragons, and find some way to feed thirteen baby dragons -- the rest of the dragons from Kit's clutch hatched as well.
Well, the muscles and organs of two dead, adult dragons were a good start.
Oh, and here's a village where every single person over the age of five was killed by the grandmaster's spell -- yummy livestock! (and yummy dead people, but let's not dwell on that) (Un?)fortunately, they couldn't locate all the dragon hatchlings after that -- only five of them (plus Kit) returned to the Acorn, despite attempts to use magical compulsions and the like.
Kit, annoyed by his own constant hunger, decided to try eating things other than meat -- trees were food, but not very filling. Rocks and dirt... not so much -- he ended up vomiting lava.
Kit: "Maybe if we burned some trees down to charcoal, they'd been a more concentrated source of fuel... hmm, I wonder if I could just eat actual coal?"
So, they landed at the nearest coal mine, and the answer was yes -- coal was not only edible, but a traditional dragon food, and the miners were used to dragons showing up and trading things for massive quantities of coal. The horses and cart were left behind in trade for as much coal as the acorn (and their remaining mezukuma boxes) could carry -- which was a good deal for the miners, actually. Coal was cheap.
But Kit didn't want to share the coal -- so he suggested that they give the other dragon hatchlings to Vaal -- surely he'd have some use for them, and Cho had been awfully buddy buddy with him lately. Cho contacted Vaal and asked, and Vaal agreed to take them off their hands, so they were shipped to the perfect world, where presumably they'd feed on the elderly and other useless folks. Or something.
Kit also was going to suggest that, since Mirnath and Gerard were both dead, they stop at Kintarr to report the success of the spell to the fish, and pick up some spending money at Mirnath's horde. But he couldn't -- the horde was his, now, after all, because he was the only one who knew about it, and he didn't want to risk anyone else taking anything out of the horde to *spend*. The very idea was horrifying!
Also, the fish would probably kill a dragon hatchling on sight.
Kit realized, then, that he wasn't really a Kitsune anymore -- his soul was still Kitsune... for the moment. But if he didn't act soon -- within the next decade or two -- he'd lose his Kitsune nature entirely and become a dragon for real. Which would be one way to weasel out from under the curse... and regain some semblance of his former power, since dragons were pretty damn powerful once they grew to adulthood.
If only dragons weren't such assholes, the prospect might even be tempting.
last session | next session
As the party finished looting the sorry excuse for a dragon's hoard (due to the dragon being (a) enslaved and (b) long dead) and returned to the acorn, another dead dragon was suddenly tossed at them. Or at least, in front of them -- it was Gerard (not his real name, but the name they'd been given), eviscerated. Oh, and there was Mirnath, not dead or eviscerated, but hovering overhead, demanding the water from the fountains they'd been visiting.
"This is what I've been waiting for," the fish whispered to Kit, "Just get me close enough, and I'll trigger the spell we designed to kill Mirnath!"
So Kit gathered up samples of water from the three fountains they'd visited since Mirnath last took water from them -- corruption, youth, and now luck -- and approached the dragon. When he got close, the fish darted right into Mirnath's mouth and exploded.
A lot.
Doing enough 'permanent damage' (also known as disintegration) to not only kill Mirnath (by disintegrating everything inside his skull, which it was not powerful enough to penetrate), but also vaporize Kit. And all his equipment. Again.
Unfortunately, it also summoned Adam, who was nearby disecting the crystal spider on level 1. Adam shouted that he 'smelled the presence' of his hated enemy, and attacked.
Cho decided that he needed a powerful body for this sort of thing, and possessed Gerard's corpse, standing the eviscerated dragon up on its hindlegs and combining powers with Leen to blast Adam astrally, over and over. Each shot wounded him, and Adam and Cho were so desperate to kill each other (Adam *really* wanted to cut off Cho's arm, since Cho had cut off his) that they ignored everything else and spent Karma and fatigue and burned their stats to throw the deadliest attacks (and the most desperate dodges) that they could muster.
Mira was thus unmolested, and was able to fire a bunch of random caster shells at Adam's whirlwindy physical form. One of them summoned a ghost... oh look, it's Mirnath's ghost! Fortunately, for the party, Adam attacked Mirnath and got the ghosty dragon attacking him as well.
And Bob was free to desperately call for the Grandmaster of the Church of the Eternal Void, who arrived and started tossing his own deadly spells at Adam. One of his spells, as an incidental side effect, shredded Mirnath's soul, killing the dragon thoroughly. It also pissed off Adam, who swatted him like a bug. As he died, the last-ditch desperation spell he'd promised never to cast went off, destroying the souls of everyone linked to Adam.
Which included Kit. But luckily, Kit was conscious and could resist -- because when he'd died this time, the luck water and corruption water and youth water (all also vaporized) had combined to make something *really weird* happen to him, and he'd instantly reincarnated in the body of an unborn dragon hatchling... Gerard was pregnant, and just about to lay his... er, her eggs, when Mirnath gutted her. So he'd 'hatched' in Cho's eviscerated belly, and tumbled to the ground during one of Cho's desperate dodges.
Without material components or skill boosting items, in an unfamiliar body, and without massive reserves of Fate to burn (because unlike Cho he hadn't drunk the lucky kool-aid), he'd realized that he had no hope of shifting the course of the battle, and had animated Mirnath's corpse as a steed to carry him away from the battle. Only to get hit by the 'destroy anyone linked to Adam' spell, which he barely managed to resist, thanks in part to his link to Adam being fairly weak, as those things go.
But most of the people linked to Adam did *not* resist, and were destroyed -- which in turn, nearly destroyed Adam. Another astral-lightning-and-ice storm from Cho and Leen pushed him to the brink of doom, and the monstrous astral THING fled for his life. Cho could tell that he was fleeing to Ankh Morpork.
So, they'd won. For the moment. Cho decided to explain what exactly was going on with Adam -- Adam was really 'Adamant Dominion', the idea that one person should rule over all over people. Cho, likewise, was the idea that there was only a single True God. (so presumably, his full name was 'Chosen One' or something) The Grandmaster's spell had probably killed off almost all leaders in the world, and a good many other people besides... the war between Taforia and Razia was probably over, for example. But it hadn't managed to kill EVERYONE linked to Adam, so Adam still existed.
But still, they were relatively safe, at least for a few days. Now they just had to harvest the scales and bones from two dead (but animated) dragons, and find some way to feed thirteen baby dragons -- the rest of the dragons from Kit's clutch hatched as well.
Well, the muscles and organs of two dead, adult dragons were a good start.
Oh, and here's a village where every single person over the age of five was killed by the grandmaster's spell -- yummy livestock! (and yummy dead people, but let's not dwell on that) (Un?)fortunately, they couldn't locate all the dragon hatchlings after that -- only five of them (plus Kit) returned to the Acorn, despite attempts to use magical compulsions and the like.
Kit, annoyed by his own constant hunger, decided to try eating things other than meat -- trees were food, but not very filling. Rocks and dirt... not so much -- he ended up vomiting lava.
Kit: "Maybe if we burned some trees down to charcoal, they'd been a more concentrated source of fuel... hmm, I wonder if I could just eat actual coal?"
So, they landed at the nearest coal mine, and the answer was yes -- coal was not only edible, but a traditional dragon food, and the miners were used to dragons showing up and trading things for massive quantities of coal. The horses and cart were left behind in trade for as much coal as the acorn (and their remaining mezukuma boxes) could carry -- which was a good deal for the miners, actually. Coal was cheap.
But Kit didn't want to share the coal -- so he suggested that they give the other dragon hatchlings to Vaal -- surely he'd have some use for them, and Cho had been awfully buddy buddy with him lately. Cho contacted Vaal and asked, and Vaal agreed to take them off their hands, so they were shipped to the perfect world, where presumably they'd feed on the elderly and other useless folks. Or something.
Kit also was going to suggest that, since Mirnath and Gerard were both dead, they stop at Kintarr to report the success of the spell to the fish, and pick up some spending money at Mirnath's horde. But he couldn't -- the horde was his, now, after all, because he was the only one who knew about it, and he didn't want to risk anyone else taking anything out of the horde to *spend*. The very idea was horrifying!
Also, the fish would probably kill a dragon hatchling on sight.
Kit realized, then, that he wasn't really a Kitsune anymore -- his soul was still Kitsune... for the moment. But if he didn't act soon -- within the next decade or two -- he'd lose his Kitsune nature entirely and become a dragon for real. Which would be one way to weasel out from under the curse... and regain some semblance of his former power, since dragons were pretty damn powerful once they grew to adulthood.
If only dragons weren't such assholes, the prospect might even be tempting.
last session | next session
