I'd been hunting off and on most of the day and decided to take Flaym, my often recalcitrant Great dragon, out for one more spin. I picked him up at the Trinsic stables and hastily fed him some raw ribs cause he just looooves to crunch on ribs and I just loooove him when he isn't hungry. I discovered that if I forget to feed him, he gets annoyed and even attacked me once! Gracious, that is not appropriate behavior for ones bosom buddy, I think not!
After the stables we went to the bank and I topped off my usual reagent supply and then we had to make a decision. Where to go? We had been in Covetous earlier and I still tingled from the effects of the magical fountain in there. We had been all over Yew and northwest of Britain a couple of times. Hmmm, it had been awhile since we had been in Shame so we trotted down to the Adventurer's Guild and discovered that the only quests available were in regard to pesky undead thingies. I really haven't had much experience at all with undead monsters and the mere descriptions of them made my skin crawl! After retrieving my skin, which had crawled into a corner, Flaym and I headed to Shame.
The dank tunnels echoed faintly with the scurrying of ratty feet and Flaym feasted well on the l'il squeakers that inhabit the first level. On the second level we didn't find much at all, just a few elementals and a couple RatLords. Of course, Flaym didn't let them lord it over him! No sirree bob! Flaym ate 'em. We made it to level 3 and started making acquaintance with some irritated trolls. Flaym was having a joyous, carefree time biting the heads off of trolls and I was keeping him under control as much as possible. He has a tendency to run off and do wild, imaginative things, like take on two dozen trolls at a time or whatever. Flaym was discussing the repair status of the caverns with a Troll Chieftan when everything just STOPPED!
I hate it when that happens. I eventually came out of stasis to find Flaym's body lying on the floor and a Troll Chieftan, along with some of his bully boys, glaring at me! I noticed that I was rather low on health, I guess when I was dreaming of other climes, they had pounded on me a bit. I galloped away from them and built a quick campfire. After healing myself I went back down and teased the Chieftan and his two friends after me. When I got them far enough away I galloped past them and ressed Flaym. He was very embarrassed at being dead. "I'm sorry, Wyspr, I meant to concentrate on that Chieftan but then a rat bit my heel and of course I had to bite his heaad off first and then the Chieftan's friend called me a bad name so I had to chomp HIM and then I realized you were just fading away and the Chieftan had been beating me up all the time...." he trailed off.
I told him he was a big, ferocious Dragon with honor and courage and spirit! I muttered, "and not too many smarts." as I healed and buffed him. Flaym bounced arouud in place, eager to chomp some more. I fed him again, he is always VERY hungry after he dies, and we went down the tunnel to finish the conversation with the Chief.
After Flaym danced the happy dragon dance on the Chief's recumbent form, we exited the tunnel to find no other than Shachiko! She cocked her head and grinned "Oh, so are you responsible for this mess?" I admitted that we were and remarked that I hoped she didn't step in any of it. We chatted a bit then decided to make sure ALL the trolls were dead. After clearing the area around the lake, we entered the building and cleared it. Then Shachiko suggested we go into the spooky place that I had only been in once before, VERY briefly.
We walked over the runes and appeared in that room in Wind, I think she said it was, that I had seen Black Wisps and other creatures before. That was when I was there with Plum, my former Dragon buddy. He and I didn't stay there long. But, Shachiko and I explored the dungeon, killing anything that moved in our path. Shachiko's deft fingers picked locks and Flaym enjoyed flirting with her. I rolled my eyes at a few of his sallies.
We finally reached the entrance to Fire Dungeon. I asked, "So, Fire dungeon huh? What's there?" Shachiko shrugged and said, "Oh it's a fun place. Dragons and stuff. " I swallowed nervously a couple of times and said, "Well then, let's do it!" After all, I had my own dragon with me, right?
We started exploring the Fire level and it was quite interesting. I had never been there before and I was amazed at the topography of the place. What could have caused those symmetrical pits all over? Perhaps there were karst formations or something here. Hmmm.
We saw a Royal dragon around a corner and talked for a moment. We decided with the two of us and Flaym, we could take him without a lot of difficult...probably. I dashed around the corner to get within line of sight of the Royal and yelled, "All Stop! All Attack!" and Flaym spread his wings and attacked with a fury I've never seen before. The Royal was a bright red color and I admired that color while watching Flaym's health. Then I noticed my own health dropping at a highly precipitous rate and realized that the Royal was focused on ME!!! I dashed away just in time and healed myself as the Royal chortled and turned to Flaym. Meanwhile, Sachiko was sticking the Royal full of holes. I tried to get her healthbar up but with all the draconic wings flapping about, draconic voices roaring and everything, I just couldn't. I was a bit frazzled.
I have to admit, I am not the best in a frenzied situation. I like to plan things out ahead of time. When the scene gets crazy, I get a bit confused. In fact, this time I was so confused I forgot to check on Flaym and his health was almost gone! I quickly cast a healing spell on him but it was too late. With a mournful groan, Flaym collapsed to the floor of the cave. I stood there, eyes brimming with sadness at yet another death, this one caused by own neglect. Shachiko swung her blade again and the Royal roared in agony! I quickly cast a heal on her and the Royal shrieked again as her blade bit deep through is scales. He stumbled off and we put an end to him. Sachiko had some good advice about watching my dragon's health and we ressed him and fed him and buffed him again.
We found a stairway leading downwards. Hmm, downwards. How bad could it be? Shachiko didn't remember since it had been a long time since she had been in there. I smiled and charged down the stairs! I usually had been letting her lead the way since she knew what was going on but I felt I should take the first step this time.
Oh my...I had no clue what was going on. There were shrieks and yells and bellow and spell explosions...my health was dropping so fast I gulped. How's Flaym, should I heal him? No stupid, heal yourself! Where's Shachiko, is she alright? HEAL YOURSELF STUPID!! Oh yeah...I healed myself a couple times and got Flaym's bar up and Shachiko's and noticed finally that there were spidery looking critters which I rather detested, with whiney l'il voices and there was also a dragon made of shadow or something! How curious. I wondered about it's parentage as I healed Flaym. Then, Flaym took off after a retreating Terrathan, or however they name themselves, and it was all quiet as Shachiko and I mopped up the last remaining opponents.
She looked at me cooly and said, "So, hadn't you better go retrieve your dragon?" I looked and could see his tail but then it vanished! I galloped over and found him engaged in battle with another royal! A purple one this time! Hmm, purple, royalty, this must be the real thing! I called him back and we galloped away but the purple Royal followed us. Flaym wasn't in good shape and I couldn't heal him fast enough...alas, alackaday, the poor guy tried to draw to an inside straight and folded to the floor! Shachiko and I were not doing so good either. We decide to go upstairs again!
The Royal followed us and we had to run about a bit. He had a special animosity for the lovely and lethal Shachiko, probably cause she had put so many holes in his thick, scaled hide. I managed to heal her as she swung her weapon at him over and over. He raged and bit but was outta fuel for his inner furnace so that was good, at least. Eventually, he collapsed and expired in a royal funk. We panted a bit, our eyes wide, my heart, at least, racing. Shachiko unlimbered her spear and poked him a couple times JUST to make absolutely sure he was dead.
Then, we descended cautiously again and found it quiet. I ressed Flaym, healed and buffed the poor abused guy, and decided to look just a LITTLE bit further. We walked around a corner and TWO FREAKIN' ROYAL'S were flying at us with fury in their eyes! All three of us retreated post haste and went back up a level. We laughed somewhat at our precipitous flight and agreed that two Royal's at once was a bit much perhaps.
After exploring a bit more, killing a few smaller creatures we discoverd I was out of mandrake root and our buffs were wearing thin. We decided to call it a hunt and headed back to Britain. I put Flaym in the stables where he deserved a long rest after dying three times, and we parted our ways for the time.
A thoroughly enjoyable adventure with the masterful and skilled adventurer Shachiko! As I returned to my home in Yew, I hoped there would be many more.
