Arwen shook his head at his uncle's explanation, not really enjoying the idea of replacing Rex's soul with something else. It felt... Wrong. Criminal almost. Like turning a living person into a Golem. Well, he supposed that's exactly what it was. "If that's the case, I think Rex will be fine the way he is. Soul removal sounds a bit... dark for my comfort zone."
Dwaine tuts disapprovingly. Arwen isn't quite sure if he heard or imagined a quiet voice mutter "Philistine." Judging from Dwaine's frowning glare towards a pile of magical accoutrement and debris (which includes a stuffed rat with human hands and feet, the blade of a silver dagger in clear crystal, and a bridle, reins, and saddle all made of iron) it was likely merely not Arwen's fertile imagination.
Moving along briskly, his uncle says "A shame. It would have been an interesting experiment. Perhaps another day. Is there anything further you require of me?"
"Mr. Dwaine, my proposal is fairly straight forward. I have in my possession a magical book, which contains any amount of arcane lore pertaining to the Dragon Cult I am investigating with Arwen...unfortunately, as is often the case, this information is not easy to discern, and my time is quite limited. So I am offering you the chance to help me study it...with the idea we'll share any discoveries between us. Knowledge is not easily shared among our kind, but in this case, I feel the benefits I may gain on my journey, will prevent a dire calamity from befalling the lands. To put it lightly."
Johanna was hungry for power-she needed more. Not just power for powers sake (surely) but to untangle the Dragon Cult for good-and to keep her friends from dying or abandoning her. She needed power, and she needed it now. She had spent much of the journey to this city running her hand up and down the spine of the book, pondering. She at last had to admit its full breadth was beyond her in the time she had, and a few sleepless nights followed as she balanced her pride vs the need to know the books contents-Wizards tended to be secretive and jealous of their knowledge by nature. She had been trained by Ulcaster, however. She knew the value of teaching and learning. If her tutors had been the greedy and grasping wizards of old Faerun, they would never have made a college to teach young Wizards. Those lessons yet softened her heart.
The mage stares at Johanna with a dangerous glint in his eyes, in the same way he stared at Rex not a minute ago: as if she were an intriguing new problem to be solved. His gaze dances between her, the book, and something, or somethings, unseen or imagined. After a minute of silent consideration, he begins to slowly nod, the bobbing of his head accelerating quickly. "Yes, yes, yes, I believe we do have a deal, if this is indeed what you claim it is. You would not be the first person to attempt to sell me a text of dread import; most of those were not more than fictitious illusions, wastes of my very valuable time. Hope for your sake that this is as interesting as it seems to be." Dwaine eagerly lifts the text from Johanna's hands, running the tips of his fingers across the five-headed dragon roaring on the cover. "An important reminder that even things of evil can be beautiful," he intones, with some reverence.
He begins to flip through the pages of the religious text, not pausing as he mutters things like "Exaggeration," "Off by a thousand miles south," and "Fabricated, based on a fever dream". Rarely does he pause to raise an eyebrow half an inch, and murmur "That is new."
Finally reaching the second half of the book, with rituals, notes, and diagrams, his pace slows down, brought to a halt by the cipher. "Intriguing. Your promise is genuine." With a few words, illusionary cryptographic devices spring into existence, hanging around the two mages.
Thay Squares buzz Johanna's head,
Amn scytale float off to the side, and Dwaine tinkers with a
Calimshanian-shift cipher chart, comparing it to an illusionary version of the text that slowly begins to rewrite itself as he translates it. He waves at Johanna, indicating that she avail herself of the cryptographic amenities. They twist and turn under her touch, as if they were real. Copies of the book's pages flap like birds in the air, and, with a gesture, one falls into a dive, spooling itself out in a long string of text that wraps tightly around a scytale in her hands. It's gibberish, but it's a start.
...
After a grueling four days, the two have deciphered dozens of pages, including multiple potion recipes, rituals, spells, diary entries, inventories, and lots of bad dragon poetry.
- A potion that starts a fire in your stomach, causing you to breath fire, while severely damaging your internal organs.
- A 'potion' that allows you to distill dragonblood, or any dragon residue into a drinkable form, imbuing you with some temporary affinity for the element the dragon embodies.
- Several rituals that call on the Dragon-Queen to aid her followers. Most are Divine, and thus, are likely actually beseeching her, which might be a bad idea. One is Arcane, and thus actually usable by the party. It seems to permit to enscribe a powerful runic symbol on a dragon scale to destructive effect.
- You discover a new spell called Bone Armor. It appears to be an improved version of Mage Armor, that uses the bone of an intelligent creature as the consumed material component. (Uses a recently removed bone from am intelligent creature as a material component for a 13 AC + 1 AC/4 HD of 'donor'.) [/il]
- From the manifests and inventories, the cargo seems to have been loaded on multiple wagons, and is heading north to Baldur's Gate, where they are supposed to meet someone in the city, and recieve new directions. Perhaps the best thing to do is to try and follow their trail.
- Dragons I Adore
They Astound, Stun, Terrify.
They Are Beautiful.
Believe it or not, that was the best piece of dragon poetry in the entire book.
There is still many pages left to decipher: the code becomes more and more complex as one dives deeper into the text.
Author
Topic: D&D 5e: The Tyranny of Dragons. IC Thread: A Much Delayed End. (Read 119867 times)