While the maga investigates the jewel Arnau moves slowly to the wyrm and studies him. He also keeps eyeing him just in case he rears up his head. He does not trust anything that wounds his men.
His joints hurt from the parching salt attack, and he grimaces but seems to remember something about such drakes...
In the meantime his men are being attended by the local women. He is the last one to be attended while he thinks on the wyrm. Maybe one of the magus wants a new familiar? He is certainly tame right now.
Drinking water, having the salt removed from their skin cleaned with fresh water, and the lacerations tended seems to improve the status of the men, and all of them are stabilized. They will need rest and frequent baths in oils to recover the flexibility of their skins, but they will live to see another day. Arnau talks with them and congratulates them for their well done job. Bringing down a drake is much more than what they were expecting on this routine visit, and were ill equipped to do it. Their performance was commendable and he will make sure they are justly rewarded.
Just to test a theory of his, he asks for a bucket of fresh water ans throws its content on one of the salt wyrm's paws to see how it reacts to the contact.
Vibria calls for a sword, then saunters over to the wyrm and waits for it to look up at her...hopefully with pleading in its eyes.
Now that the heat of battle has passed, Vibria tries to recall what (if anything) she knows about salt drakes. Int 1 + Magic Lore 4 + die roll of 3 = 8, or 9 if she can use her Specialization of Dragons. Confidence if it would make a real difference.
[color=red]"Give me one reason for me to let you survive this day, wyrm. Just one."
Vibria keeps an eye on her men, and on the villagers tending to their wounds, just in case.
Selim, obviously tired and dehydrated, takes the gem harness over to Vibria, "Sah...maga, I assume you'll know best how to deal with this." Once she takes it, he slumps down to the ground motions for some water from the villagers.
Vibria beams at Selim and goes to give him a hug, then sees what a sorry state he's in. She sets the harness down, within easy reach, and starts to tend to his...not so much "wounds" as "damage." ((Int 1 + Chirurgy 2 + (die roll of 0, followed by a die roll of 8) 0 = 3.))
Kinda hard to tend to a wounded companion when you've got an eye and a half on something else.
Arnau mutters something about the infidels always getting undeserved rewards. Selim has not done anything much more than kill a goblin! They are worse than Jews...
I do believe that means his injury worsens from a Medium to a Heavy Wound. I do think it would be prudent and responsible to spend a point of Confidence so he at least stabilizes.
Or you can let him try the harness.
Having so recently been in the presence of a Saint, Arnau feels guilty about his mutterings. The goblin Selim killed, you may not have realized it at the time, it was a skilled backstabber and would have severed your spine if Selim had not spotted it and smashed it.
And the pontifex of Andorra, a seventh generation mystical descendant of Reculed "Flambeau" Seneca through the line of Delendos, happens to be a Jew.
But this isn't about Carmen, you said the Moriscos were worse than. You thinkof the terrible things they have done to your people; pushed to the fringes of your own lands, sacred cathedrals plundered and despoiled, the pogroms of Al Manzor and the mass executions he ordered and the books he burned. But then you reflect upon the sins of King Roderic against Count Julian, and the tales of his spiritual humbling and repentance after the fall of the Visigoth crown. You recall the political alliances of the Cid and King Alfonso with rational Moorish rulers who could keep their word, allies against rogue and ruthless Moors such as Al Qadir of Valencia and the Almorvides. And there were also shiesty Christians, Count (whateverhisname) that was the Cids family enemy, the Frankish clerics that violated the edicts of tolerance issued by King Alfonso and discredited his word to his Muslim subjects.
With the Light of Flambeau your eyes can see the wisdom. The real enemy is before you, creatures like this one that prey on men of all creeds and nations.
But perhaps this is also a dangerous line of thought.
You know, trying to write some sort of inspirational contemplative thoughts for Arnau to chew on, I am getting a feel for how complicated and conflicted a man he must be, with a heavy burden of love and hate.
That is the whole idea. He is driven against the moors but in fact he is quire similar to them when he analyses himself closely. And he doesn't give a damn about Carmen being a Jew, BTW. People used to be friends with Jews all the time. And then assault their neighbourhoods and burn them from time to time.
What about the other stuff we were doing with the drake a few posts above? Arnau threw a bucket of fresh water in one of the wyrm's paws to see what happens and both himself and Carmen asked for Magic Lore on the wyrm (Arnau 12, Carmen 9). Thx
Nine is plenty sufficient for this one. The wyrm is a true dragon, though more serpentine than a drake. The salt wyrm likes salt, naturally, and is associated with Terram. The breath weapon is a slat vapor cloud, as you just witnessed, that has a sever parching effect (Perdo Aquam). They are subterranean, they can burrow through soft earth and excavate rock. They can see in the dark and hve further enhanced perceptions, and some can sense whatever transpires within their domain. Salt is corrosive, so for that reason they specifically adore gold in preference to other treasure. They are voracious carnivores, and if well fed they can grow lazy. Some have mind control powers, hypnotic gaze, and control minions such as human and goblins.
Incapacitated and unresponsive, the wyrm's eyes roll in dizziness and it emits a low moaning.
Then Maurice strikes with savage fury!!!!!
He tears the wyrm's throat out and begins devouring it with a vicious frenzy. Anyone that tries to interfere gets a terrifying stare-down-growl (Pre +1, Leadership 2 Intimidation), +3 for Piecing Gaze, and a stress die 1d10=5 equals 12.
Not Carmen, Vibria is with you. Vibria isn't Jewish. She is Draconish. As for lore, I info dumped everything I could think of. Plus I think a piece of bone from the skull can be enriched for some endurance related trait. Not sure what else, so I had Maurice star eating the wyrm as to make it irrelevant :mrgreen:
Maurice will wind up eating the vis as well. He will devour the brain and crack bones for marrow, but he will leave the skull mostly intact.
Hooray for the busty maga! Hooray for the Flame Brothers! Hooray for the Lion of Andorra! We did it, my friends!
Now, I wouldn't mind something to drink. All this salt is making me thirsty. And something to eat, too. After such an epic fight, we really need to restore ourselves, least exhaustion claims the better of us!
That's great! He ties it to his sword's hip. It'll sure be something cool to show his children when he tells them the tale of Andorra's Finest Warriors versus the Wicked Dragon of the Salt Mines
Disbelief creeps in the wide open eyes of Arnau. The firedrake is easting his kin! it is not as if he was eating dog (now, where does that idea come from?) but it is certaily some form of animal canibalism. And he is taking away their hard earned prize! He takes a step forward and starts to raise his nand and open his mouth to say something. Maurice looks at him and something in the lizard's sight gives pause to Arnau.
He lowers his hand and concedes the prey to the final killer. he starts looking at the scales. Taking one of them that has detached from the body while Maurice mangles the entrails of the drake, he examines it. it is white in color, and very light. Maybe it could be used for a scale hauberk suit. If they manage to get enough of them buy the time the drake finishes eating...
I will throw you a bone. Literally
This wyrm is wirth 5 Terram vis, in it's bones. As I said, Maurice is cracking bones for marrow. He is trying to get at the vis and eat that mainly. Helps stave off acclimation and he is building up a reserve for advancment/transformation. And it has a avory & salty flavor that is just too good to resist.
But he will leave the Dragonstone, a small bone in the skull that holds a single pawn of vis. Maurice consumes four pawns, and leaves the fifth for you
It will be a bit before you can get to the scales. They are not so thick, but the hide in general is tough. If made into leather, it would offer greater protection one would presume.
This is what I suggest and propose as a resolution to all of this. Most of it anyway.
The Dragonstone is smaller than the palm of a man's hand. It can be enriched to provide the Tough Virtue. You cannot stack the bonus with your Clam Shell, though it makes a fitting reward and can be useful to your vanguard.
The hide can be worked into some form of leather armor with a Protection value twice that of it's Load. It can be divided up into fifteen points of outfits; one point equals Load 1 & Protection 2, so this can be three full suits of scale with Load 5 Protection 10, fifteen leather jackets ( 8) )with Load 1 and Protection 2, or any fitting combination.
Most of the treasure can be recovered. Joaquim's daughter, Pam, she is not happy. She was being quite pampered as a dragon's bride and was spending lavish sums to have her part of the cave built into opulent quarters and had a staff of many servants and was given many gifts and served delicacies. About a tenth of the money is gone, so is the sword and the wand. She is wearing some of the jewelry and had given some to her hand maidens.
Whatever you guys do with the money, Maurice is going to insist on a third to share with his brothers (which he won't in reality). Back when the treasure was originally plundered, the drake trio had received a third, and that treasure was stolen back by the wyrm's ritual along with the other treasure (which made Vibria break into hysterics). Because of the money spent, this third will be smaller than the original third. In fact, Maurice will be magnanimous and demonstrate he is not avaricious as some dragons. He will compensate everyone for their losses by making them up out of his share. He might then give some token amount to Venkath and Simon (or just Venkath), saying that this was all that could be recovered, and yet still wind up profiting greater than his loss.
All Participants in this story receive 10xp for the experience,or choose to profit from some other study or source. Everyone receives one more Confidence point, except for the grogs. Antoni retains the relic with a faith point.
Vibria has to demonstrate, as Marshall of Andorra, that she views the men as more than just meat shields for the magi, and will do whatever she can to get them through the battle unscathed. So, she continues to work vigorously on Selim (burning the point of Confidence to get her butcher's-like roll to a 6, to hopefully stabilize him.).
She glances at the harness again, and suddenly remembers what Maurice had said: "The harness would have instantly revived him from the point of death, for it accelerates his natural healing!
She then darts over and grabs the harness, brings it back, and places it on Selim, being sure to secure it well.
Vibria will try to console Pam about the loss of all the money and the treasure (while looking around the place and picking up decorating tips).
She's happy that we get back some of the money and treasure that was lost when the Salt Wyrm reclaimed it, but she would be happier if we could have gotten all of it and not lost any to the Wyrm in the first place. And she would be happier still if she knew that there wasn't yet another wyrm tucked away somewhere that wouldn't steal all her money again.
Burning a Confidence point will stabilize Selim, and with everyone's injuries tended to we can presume adequate recovery once everyone returns to the covenant for proper care.
As for the harness, you have to investigate an unknown magic item in the lab before you can use it and instruct others in its use.
Because of the generosity of Maurice, your actual losses pretty much amount to just the sword and the wand. Financially everyone is at a zero loss financially, except for Venkath and Simon (Marice pulls a bit of profit on his brothers).
As for dealing with Pan and the prevention of further wyrm incursions, Maurice has a clever idea he would like to discuss with you privately.
Back in Andorra, Antoni will sure tell many tales of the valiant warriors of Andorra.
So you see, I was there, and I knew I couldn't let tha maga be hurt. So I stood before her, just in front of the dragon, ready to protect her with my life if need be. But then, Arnau and his men had snuck on its side, and they struck him! The beast's roar was defeaning, and, in its fury, it unleashed some vile magic. But neither could it dent the busty one own magics, nor could it hurt one as tough as the Lion of Andorra, although it hurt greatly the brave flame brothers.
And there, for a moment, all seemed lost, for it seemed that the infernal beast had gained the upper hand, and was gonna devour us all.
But behold!
For I said the Dragon "Thy days are counted, evil one, for you face today the best and brightest of Andorra, and we shall not yield!"
And with that, tha maga unleashed some hellfire that burned the beast, whereas, fast and mighty as a horse (for, despite his girth, Mighty Antoni can be swift indeed!), I plunged my blade into the beast's belly, wounding it greviously!
That was all that the flaming ones needed: Emboldened by the powerful blow I had just landed the beast, they rallied around their sultry leader, finishing what we had begun.
And thus was the dread Salakk felled, again, and this time for good.
And so history is written thinks Arnau looking at the covenant's children cheer. Seeing Josep among them is something he does not like, but his eldest has always been quite independent. The child looks his way and smiles broadly. And Arnau forgets what he was complaining about.
Ok, I'll bite. 15 points (20 protection points) of armor and a dragonstone + 10XP (the leadership class is wasted on Arnau this season because he is at a medium wound) + 1 confidence. Nice
I assume the Brothers are not getting it all, though. I will ask Andorra for a third of the armor, so my point man (Pau) can have a whole suit of dragon armor (armor 10, load 5) and the dragonstone. I might yeld the dragonstone if necessary.
Technically it was Maurice's kill. But it is best to not let him know that the carcass could be a thing of value.
If asked, Carmen's opinion is that it should be equally distributed amongst those that fought the beast.Roberto doesn't care and never bothered to look up the rules for resource discovery. Kesara, inspired to study law by her mentor, will point out to Solomon that the Resolutions of Charter do indeed contain rules for Covenant Assets & Resources.
OK, so the resources belong to the council and are distributed in the winter solstice. OK. I will petition for the drake scales anyway, and hope I get assigned at least 1 third of them. The dragonstone and harness, I will not make a claim on them.
Unless the magi show no interest in such materials, and then he will simply try to get them all for his men. 8) He might have work for the new smith...
Arachné will be loathe to let it all go to the Flame Brothers as, being mercenaries, they don't "belong" to the covenant. Should they chose to end their contract, these resources would just disappear with them.
At the same time, she nonetheless thinks that they deserve a share of the kill, since that was a little above their pay grade. She likewise has no problem with them benefiting from armors fashioned after the dragon's scales, so long as these belong to the covenant, and stay in the covenant should the FB depart.
And he doesn't give a damn about Carmen being a Jew, BTW. People used to be friends with Jews all the time. And then assault their neighbourhoods and burn them from time to time.
