Session 19: Under the Empire

General Summary

Bastion Week

The Servok Miner took longer to repair than expected, which gave the Wyrm's Oven one more week to run its operations. Kal sold Dragon Nip pizzas to a public that received them exactly as enthusiastically as one would expect from a THC-laced pizza operation. His garden shifted to full pizza herb production, his dojo ran unarmed combat training, and his workshop produced an Immovable Rod. The Dragon Nip also yielded a secondary product: Lesser Restoration potions harvested from the plants, along with 900 gold pieces. An extraordinary opportunity presented itself during Kal's bastion turn. The female dula-dulas will show up.

Nyxek blessed the Dragon Nip in the name of the Emperor, which is a sentence that has never been written before. His sacristy consecrated the herbs to imperial service. His workshop produced mundane weaponry for the Wyrm's Oven's growing population of vassals. He continued his research into Gammoranth's ritual and the dula-dulas reproduction question. Sora assisted with the ritual research and, while delivering her findings, revealed that she had been keeping coconuts in her shirt for milk and snacks. She told Nyxek plainly: the Red Dome will close over the Empire again, the first step in restoring the First World. She is loyal to the Emperor. She also laments the loss of all the songs and stories. Nyxek filed that away.

Then he rolled a natural 20 while pursuing Paragon Prophet.

The platinum dragonborn's resistance finally broke. She agreed they could work something out, a marriage, a concubinage, a consortium, with the specific terms negotiable. As a preview she offered a demonstration involving her snout and a warmed dragonfruit that was equal parts unsettling and enrapturing. Nyxek received one use of her radiant breath. The sire of eighty-nine may be closer than anticipated.

Vutha bought cold weather gear, took money from his storehouse, trained his soldiers, and ran the gambling hall. 420 gold pieces. Baethra picked out the cold weather clothes herself because she knew he wouldn't.

The Caldera Tunnels

The Claw loaded their supplies into the Miner and descended into the caldera tunnels. Sora took the pilot's seat inside. Draxelas rode along. The hex crystal pointed the way and the Miner moved.

After 4 days of uneventful travel, the first serious obstacle arrived without warning: a dead air pocket. Vutha and Kal held their breath. Tad needed water to breathe and Kal waterbent some directly onto his gills. Sora was shoved into the bag of holding and the bag was closed before the remaining air could escape. Nyxek carefully managed what he had. Vutha, Kal, and the Miner began digging upward toward breathable air, Kal's earthbending proving extremely effective.

Draxelas began to suffocate. He begged for Sora's place in the bag. Nyxek looked at the gasping morale officer and named his price: ten percent of Draxelas's hoard, from now until eternity. Draxelas balked. He haggled. He settled at ten percent. The dragonborn in the bags switched places and Sora emerged into fresh air just as the tunnel opened above them.

The trudging continued until a magma pocket breach blew open ahead of them, spilling burning molten rock across the path. The pool was wide. Kal was faster. He carried Vutha across, the lizardfolk emerged only mildly singed. Tad climbed across on his own. Nyxek, Draxelas, and Sora took the Miner through. The Miner is magma-proof. Its passengers are not entirely magma-proof. They emerged mildly broiled.

The Salamander

Tad found a fire salamander on the far side of the pool and attempted communication. He reported back that her language shared similarities with the dula-dulas tongue. He attempted to woo her with words and croaks. She responded with her own words and a beckoning gesture. "I think she might be into me," Tad mused. "No," Vutha corrected, and translated. She was telling them they must meet her leader. The Adorable One. All who pass through these tunnels pay tribute. His adorableness must be seen by all travelers.

Nyxek asked what happened to those who refused. Vutha translated the reply: the Adorable One would come find them, as these were his tunnels. The salamander also mentioned, almost as an afterthought, that her leader was large ,and she herself was the size of a stone giant. Nyxek considered this for a moment and nodded. They would meet this Adorable One.

The Chamber of the Adorable One

The salamander led them through the tunnels to a deep chamber lit from below by a magma pool. Red-scaled dragonborn guards stood at the entrance, speaking the praises of the Adorable One to whom they offered all their wealth and their firstborn daughters. Draxelas was pulled from the bag of holding long enough to mention that it was known among certain parties that there were scalyfolk who had fled the Emperor and lived underground, outside the bounds of law and honor.

Nyxek looked at the guards and said what he thought. They had left the Emperor and become slaves in dark holes in the ground, more like worms than wyrms. Something shifted in the guards' expressions. They did not entirely disagree.

The senior guard recited his obligation. Homage must be paid. Suitable tribute must be offered. Nyxek pushed back. What had this Adorable One done to deserve homage from the Emperor's chosen? The guard named the dragon, Mythrokon the Adored, and explained that the Adorable One had delivered the dragonborn from the Emperor's oppression so they could be free. Free to surrender everything they owned and their daughters to him. Not very free, Nyxek observed, but they could enjoy the rights and freedoms of the Empire if they stepped aside and let the Claw handle this Mythrokon. The guard's eyes widened. The dragon could hear everything they said. He did not refuse.

Nyxek reached into the mind of the nearby mage and made the same offer privately. Stay out of it and live. The mage considered for a moment. If the Claw could make it quick.

Tad was given his instructions. He performed a dula-dulas mating dance for the assembled salamanders and absolutely nailed it. The salamanders surged toward him, delighted, insisting they must introduce him to the others, other scalyfolk taking refuge in the tunnels nearby. The chamber's attention fractured.

Vutha stepped forward into the space that opened up. "I am Mornualin, the God Devourer. I am just as worthy as your Adorable One. I will challenge this Mythrokon and take these tunnels from him." Nyxek nodded.

The lava pool churned.

A massive red dragon rose from the magma, ancient and scarred and enormous. He looked at Nyxek and the Emperor's banner and hurled his grievance across the chamber: the Emperor was no defender of dragons. Where was Clan Red? Where are Clans White and Black? Where were Clan Brass and Clan Topaz? Nyxek's memory surfaced the answer, these were clan names that had never existed within the Empire. These were the chaotic dragons driven out for refusing Imperial rule, their followers scattered into the tunnels and the dark places of the world.

That fact did not change what was about to happen.

The Claw's eyes swept across the hoard visible at the edges of the chamber. Mythrokon the Adored opened his mouth.

DRAGON FIGHT.