Living in Waterdeep - Part 3

With the enormous threat of a dragon looming overhead, the party had little choice but to attempt to make an escape, or else give themselves up – the latter of which they expected would lead to executions. However, they did not have long to make a plan, as a small number of Warforged soldiers entered the building and began searching each of the rooms. Kyrune, Dex and Milo exited the basement first, attempting to pave a way out for Flo, Tamas and the Prince. Dex and Kyrune would place themselves on either side of a doorway, and when one of the soldiers approached the room, Milo would catch it’s attention. Once the guard ran through the door to attack or arrest him, the other two would be able to take it by surprise. Using this method, they successfully defended the building from Pelias’s troops – however, they still required a means to escape the dragon.

Flo surmised that if they could get to the river, swimming underwater could provide an effective cover from the acid-breath of the dragon. Unfortunately, this plan required that someone draw the dragon’s attention while the others made a break through the 30 foot gap between the building and the river. It seemed unlikely that any form of attack from the street could successfully keep the others safe – however, spotting the holes in the rooftop, as well as an adjacent building which was taller still, the party put together a plan.

Milo was the first to walk out into the open air, hoping that his elfin heritage would spare him any immediate wrath or retribution on Pelias’s part. He cried out
“We have taken out the guards you sent in to arrest us. If you want to take us in to custody, you’ll have to come down here and get us.”
Pelias’s face, no longer covered by the ornate mask, became one of cautious amusement. He seemed to be considering his options, not wanting to land on the ground and lose his dragon’s advantage of being airborne. He did however, reduce altitude, circling closer overhead than before. Kyrune stepped out of the building following this, and upon seeing he was unarmed, Pelias was convinced of his victory. He steered the dragon down to the crest of the building’s roof, but before it could land, the plan came into action. Kyrune’s blade appeared in his outstretched, empty hands – his arcane magic allowing him to summon it at will – and he struck at the dragon’s underside with all of his might. In the same second Dex, who had used Milo and Kyrune’s distraction to climb onto the roof of the adjacent building, jumped onto the dragon’s back, and began slashing wildly at it while crawling up towards its neck and head, where Pelias perched. The blows were not deep or fatal, but were nevertheless sudden and surprising enough to cause the dragon to screech and cough thicks gout of acid bile. Milo attempted to dodge, but was hit on his right side, his mail giving way to burning liquid which tore at and ignited the flesh of his arm. The noise of its sizzling was just about audible, under the chaos of Milo’s pained cries, Pelias’s rage-fuelled shouts, the beat of wings as the dragon began ascending once more, escaping Kyrune’s violent slashes and spells.

Flo burst into the street at full speed, tackling Milo and knocking him with her into the river, immediately swimming with the current to get the two of them as far from the battle as possible. On top of the dragon, Dex struck at Pelias with his daggers, but wasn’t certain whether he had merely glanced with them, or whether Pelias was somehow protecting himself from attack – the only thing he was certain of was that for some reason the blades failed to sink in to the Eladrin flesh. While swinging back for a second strike, he heard a smirk – Pelias turned and looked him in the eyes, and suddenly Dex was alone on the beast. Taking his opportunity, he scurried up to the dragon’s head, and held his blade high in the air, intending to blind the creature while it was still distracted with Kyrune’s offensive from below. However, by this point the Shadar-Kai’s attacks were waning, as the several large droplets of acid that had been attempting to ignore cut deeper and deeper into his neck and arms and chest, and the dragon finally managed to gain the altitude to pull out of his physical reach.

At this moment, Tamas fled - the Prince taking shelter under his arm – out into the open air. The dragon, spotting the halfling’s blade about to blind it as well as multiple targets below, made a drastic move, and plummeted from the air once more, intentionally crashing to the ground and the edge of the building. With the sudden force of movement, Dex’s blade sunk into the side of the dragon’s eye, but failed to blind it. The Halfling fell from the beast’s back and hit the ground with a painful thud, while the three people on the street were all suddenly hit with the explosive force of several tonnes of dragon. Tamas and the Prince were thrown clear of the street, landing completely unconscious in the river. While Kyrune remained barely conscious, he forced his eyes to remain open, willed his body to function just long enough to drag Dex, who was also out cold, and himself into the river waters, and escape before the dragon arose once more from the rubble it had flung itself into. As he began to flow downstream with Dex in one arm, his eyes facing up towards the sky, he caught a final glimpse of  two figures standing on the nearby bridge, watching him. He imagined he heard a whisper, in a deep, Drow accent…
“You are strong enough. An ideal candidate for our needs…”
And then there was sleep.

It was late in the evening by the time they awoke. The sun was setting, and the sky of Waterdeep was afire with oranges and reds and pinks. Flo, being the only one still conscious and unharmed of the adventurers, had followed the current until she found a tunnel which she expected was either a sewer or, given the river was flowing into it, rather than vice-versa, a storm drain. Here she waited for the others to come down the river flow, and finding each of them unconscious, she towed them into the shelter of this tunnel. She examined and tended to each of their wounds with the help of a numb, yet reasonably stable Milo. Once everyone was awake and patched up, she asked a simple, yet significant question.

“What happened to the Prince?”

He had never come down the river with the rest of them. Because the other three were all unconscious when they came down the river, and particularly because of the severity of Kyrune’s wounds, she assumed that they had failed to fight off Pelias, and that Ro’liath was captured. While all three of Dex, Kyrune and Tamas reported their last memories being of Tamas and the Prince hitting the water, they could offer no explanation as to where the Prince had disappeared to.

“This is just typical. Doesn’t make any sense,” came the belligerent tone in Dex’s voice. “Tamas, you were supposed to keep an eye on him.”
The Deva’s face darkened, but it was Flo who responded.
“You just wanted whatever it was he stole. Anything of value, that’s all you’re interested in. It’s a fine line you’re straddling, between Ioun and Vecna, you know.”
With those words, complete silence fell among them. The following seconds felt like hours, stretched out by tension, completely silent but for the sound of the shin-high water trickling around them, moving deeper into the tunnel.

“Wha-t?”
“You’re a follower of Ioun, aren’t you? You grew up believing in her, pushing to acquire and spread knowledge? But you needed to make a living, and you got into thieving, and suddenly it was gold you were acquiring, and you certainly weren’t willing to spread much of that. So now you’re a hoarder. You want more for you, but you’re less interested in other people.”
Silence fell again. Flo maintained an heir of indignation, offering no explanation for her sudden outburst and, beneath it all, feeling slightly embarrassed about spilling a comrade’s personal history in front of others. After another hour-long-several-seconds, Tamas looked directly at Flo.
“You’re a psychic.”
“Yes.”
“Well thank you, for that, then. I appreciate you sticking up for me, but as you can probably imagine yourself this only raises more problems than it solves.”
The five of them sat in the water, staring at one another, nervous expressions on Tamas and Dex’s face in particular.

“I don’t see the problem,” Milo spoke suddenly. “She’s obviously on our side, I mean she could have let any or all of us drown in the river. Instead, we’re all here, and we’re all recovering, except for Ro’liath, and I can vouch for her that he didn’t pass this way. And we have bigger problems at the moment than some embarrassing talk about what religion we belong to. I mean, we are most likely, right now, being hunted by a dragon.”
Kyrune and Dex nodded. Tamas seemed pensive momentarily, but shrugged and stood up.
“I’m exclusively devoted to the Elfin Spirits, by the way, so no trying to convert me,” Milo added.
The others grinned, standing up alongside Tamas.
“Let’s just head on,” sighed Flo.