Game thread

If any dare look back, they see that the daring dwarf, Magnar, was left behind and stumbled in his attempt to escape from the fiery terror that emerged. The first fist delivers mercy as it snuffs out the dwarf’s life quickly. Nothing can be seen except the cinders.

On a good note, the elemental discouraged the giant from continuing its pursuit.

Thus, hunting and foraging among the bushes proved to be a success for Slane the Survivor and Wily Wisco who found enough to feed themselves plus one more. Nathan, hunting a lizard back to its hiding place, struck two with his pitchfork and can feed three others with his critical success.

Cedrick discovered that some of the bushes had large tubers as roots and dug those with his dagger. Jermyn, who repeatedly found no fruits nor blossoms in any of their searches just happened to spy Cedrick as he pulled up his bounty. Lucky enough that there were two of those same bushes right in front of them.

Nathan will head back with his catch and show Stee."We will eat decent today. If anyone else needs some food let me know or maybe we could pool all together and make a stew."

Stee will nod to Nathan"Good work and good idea."

Da Ak is neither very dexterous nor clever, so he decides to use the little agility he has to find food.

Fi Dre observes the surrounding area and the other survivors to spot the best place to find food. Jo observes Fi Dre and makes sure that, should the dwarf find something, he will find it as well!

Jermyn trundles back to camp with tubers in tow, thanking the maker for the blessing of food. "I've got enough for one more, as well." He looks around at the hardy group of survivors, much depleted in number. He keeps expecting to see the grumpy dwarf whom he'd known all his life and the faces of the others who have fallen, and the pang of loss is remembered anew.

"I could use a pipe..." He mutters with a sigh. There would be time to mourn later.

A bit of food and rest, never enough in this world, does make a difference for some of you. Cedrick, through his looking glass, spies something equally fascinating and concerning. Just beyond the shallow valley, a red dragon with a torn wing is pinned to the ground by a broken javelin. It appears to block the way to a pathway ahead.

"Ho! A dragon spotted ahead, with nary a way around." Cedrick alerted his travelling companions.

Wisco groaned in disbelief. Just when there was a moment at hand of a momentary blessings, they were undercut with some new doom. Unless this was a particularly friendly dragon, which he doubted, this was another doom they would have to escape, with their lives barely intact.

After hearing what the scene looked like Stee will"Maybe if we help it it will let us pass. Don't know if there is another option."

Nathan will nod because it doesn't seem like there is any other option. Going back surely isn't an option.

"We should send a representative to inquire," Jermyn says. "With any luck, it will be receptive to an offer of help. If not, well..." Jermyn clears his throat and hangs his head. He hardly thinks he'll need to finish the thought aloud. Not a week ago, such a thing would seem impossible to suggest.

"A dragon you say? Maybe such a noble creature will be able to hear reason, not like..." Jo looks around him and decides against finishing his sentence. "I will go and talk on this group's behalf." he simply says, with a final tone, but looking at the others to check if everybody agrees.

Slane nods, staring warily at the dragon. "Sure, sure. Let's go make a friend. I'll just be waiting back here."

Jo, bravely, perhaps insanely, approaches the wounded, grounded ancient wyrm. It gestures to its wing and the giant’s javelin that has it pinned. It occurs that he has a common enemy although that may not guarantee any alliance. His jaws are bloody from some success in its last battle, but clearly he is in distress and appears thirsty and hungry as it has been more than a day that he has been trapped.

Jo is scared to death, and cannot fathom why a got the sudden urge to go speak with the dragon. However, his pride takes the better of him, and there is no going back now. Approaching the beast, he stays at a respectable distance, but close enough to be heard, having no intention whatsoever to engage in a fight.

"Hello, magnificent creature, what an honor and a pleasure to meet you in these dangerous parts. My name is Jo the IXth, son of the Earl of Emoswhere. My I ask what is yours?"

Whether he receives an anwser, he continues: "I see that you are in dire need of help. Me and my friends would need to find a safe place to rest. Can we agree to cooperate?" he asks, using his most noble tone, and trying to somehow appeal to the dragon.

The dragon’s sinewy form stiffens as Jo approaches. Tendrils of smoke rise from his nostrils and the pupils of his eyes narrow their focus.

"You dare approach me with words. With that puny mouth opening and closing like some fish creature.
Look at me. Look at me.
Do you see this? Do your tiny wet eyes comprehend the span of what I am, what I was before your grandfather’s grandfather wove tales about me? I have watched mountain ranges grind themselves to plains. I have slept through the rise and fall of kingdoms whose names you cannot pronounce. The gods who made your bloodline were still arguing when I first drew breath.
And you come to me with terms.
You wish safe passage. You wish to walk through my ruin with your little delegation, your little ragtag troupe with your little plans to tell the bards how you outsmarted a dragon.

Did you not think that, before you ask me for anything, before the first syllable of your first condition left your mouth, you might first ask about the crime of what has been done to me?
No thought of rescue. No lending of your freedom to grant me mine. Just terms. Just YOUR terms. What YOU need. What passage YOU require.

I am older than the concept of the thing you call a noble. You wear that title like it means something in this world. It does not. Nothing you carry means anything here. Your lineage is smoke. Your rank is ash. (He pauses and a sly smile creeps to his mouth) That… is a wonderful idea.
Let me show you what your terms are worth!

The chains go taut. The temperature rises. The darkness at the back of the throat begins to glow.

Stee looking on with Nathan sees what happens to Jo. He will look at Nathan"This might be our only chance. Follow me." Stee will take off at a full run. He doesn't look back to see if Nathan follows because he knows that will only slow him down.

Nathan listens to Stee and gives a nod but Stee had already turned and took off so Nathan follows right on his heels.

Jermyn takes off with Stee and Nathan, not willing to let the chance to escape slip from his grasp again. The memory of what happened to poor Gan and Cedric because of his cautious counsel spurs him onward.

"Run for your lives! Scatter" Cries Slane as she tries to escape the impending inferno. Fortune and Army are right behind her.

Cedrick bumbles along hoping to get past the dragon, while Wisco dashes along hoping his opportunity is good enough to get past the dragon as well

The young dragon puffs up his lungs to fuel the death that spews from his throat! An impressive gout of liquid fire streams from him as he waves his head to cover as many of the party as he can with his magmatic projection.

Stee hearing the dragon inhale and probably getting ready to unleash hell quickly dives into a low spot in the ground which is partially covered by a flat rock. He turns to yell to Nathan but sees him consumed by flames. Poor fellow, if Stee gets out of this he will surely lift a glass to his memory.

Nathan sees Stee dive on the ground then flame, pain, and then darkness.

Wisco feels the air change around him, and he dives. In the next moment, Hell unleashes. He shouts to Cedrick, but Cedrick, screamed wildly as he was incinerated. Wisco had a short window of opportunity to escape with his own life past this inferno cannon, aided by the sacrifice of another that he saw go down. He dives, and his small, but trusty Halfling feet carried him forth, escaping the danger, beyond the carnage left behind.