Sorry again for delays. Just got off vacation.  Have a trial in a few weeks, which sucks up all my time.

Shae transforms into a dolphin.  Any injuries she sustained were almost instantly healed by the water.

Leo rejoins the group.

Borimer also flies back to the group upon seeing Shae safely transformed.

Kahan shouts out to Shae to get the rod back, and then Tahldar says in draconic, "si tir ti jikahshi wux re okh. si siofme wux janik filki qe voga tija. display doutan arcanissar, darastrix, usv svabol rinov wux re, sjek wux tuor udoka ekess jikahshi wux."

Above the din of the rushing water and through the mist of swirling steam throughout the cavern, you hear a deep voice respond in the common tongue:

http://screamingbee.com/SoundClips/COD/Shade.mp3

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
"Stay away from here. I'm warning you."

---

Then you hear a loud splash about 100 feet in front of you and to your right.  A moment later, a dragon's head pops up out of the water, moving from side to side like a pendulum or mesmerizing snake as it takes you in and sizes you up.



Then it snarls deeply and dives back into the water.

Borimer takes a step towards the water, "And if I do as I wish instead..?" He stops and sheathes his blade, "What is the item of great worth you desire?"

The dragon pops its head up about 20 feet away.  Even underwater it heard Borimer--perhaps his thoughts as much as his words.

It hisses, "Desire?  Kulequatzl desire all.  Kulequatzl take all. You slavering mortals have awoken me.  You despicable mortals have slain Kulequatzl's child, taken his head.  You make trophy of my kin? Your existence shall be tolerated no longer."

With that, the dragon dives down in the water again.  You sense that you have only moments.  The dragon's vile hatred toward you was unmistakeable.  Dragon fear grips you but you each hold your ground.

The miniaturized old man with white hair begins laughing maniacally, "He'll kill you now.  He'll kill you all."  He laughs with the laughter of a madman.  "He'll finally kill me too."

Leo quickly tries to find a place to hide in shadows and then look for an opportunity to attack if things go down as they appear to be headed.

The mage nods at the sight of the dragon.  It would seem to be real indeed.

As the mage listens to the dragon he realizes the creature has dropped a hint at the mention of it's child that he should have picked up on much sooner.

"Kahan!  It uses cold.  Cast all the protective spells you have versus cold!"

OOC:  Tahldar will hold his action.  He will wait till he thinks the dragon is going to breath on the party then cast a wall of force (in whatever shape as needed) to block it.

Borimer whispers to the anyone near him, "What or who did we kill and take the head from, apparently it was this wyrm's child. If we have it, we don't have to fight."

"We cannot hope to fight this dragon while he is in the water. We must leave this place, now!" Kahan instructs before casting a spell, ushering everyone to either gather around him or get behind him.

Borimer steps near his old friend ready to fight but not wanting to die in this place. If combat ensues, Borimer will fight with his feet in the water if possible.

In dolphin form, Shae explores the watery area including where the staff went, but she tries to avoid coming face to face with the dragon, hoping it's distracted.

Shae swims toward the west and down.  She sees a number of items and treasure down there--the dragon's hoard.  The pile is created by the water pressure from the strong current pushing west that keeps everything pressed against a recess in the lower west area.  The rod of absorption is there on top.

Kahan casts a spell, and the air around you suddenly gets warm and balmy.

The old white haired man, now shrunken thanks to the spell, begins to panic, mumbling incoherently as he runs south, back up the long corridor you just descended from.

The dragon rises from the water in front of you, but then its head turns to the right as it realizes its hoard is being approached by a dolphin.  It immediately dives back into the water to go after Shae.

Borimer attempts to grab the white haired man before he can flee too far, chasing him down if necessary but being gentle with the little guy nonetheless.

"Someone should help Shae, but I can't as I have no spells for water just yet." the mage says he watches the dragon swim after her.

OOC: Tahldar will hold his action.

"Borimer, wait, Shae needs help. Leo, get him," Kahan instructed, casting a spell before putting his hand on Borimer.

[]

Borimer flies into the water and attempts to put himself between the druid and the dragon.

flying with free action under water may be faster than swimming, otherwise Borimer will swim instead

Shae swims around the back side of the cavern to see what she can about the place, both above and under the water.

Leo continues to look for an opening but he isn't fool enough to dive into the water after the dragon.

In dolphin form, Shae swims around the north side of room, flipping up out of the water to get a view of the entire chamber.

Borimer gets a free action spell on him and dives into the water.  The whitewater rapids of the rushing water acted to hide what was directly underneath.  Borimer finds himself landing on the back of the dragon near its tail.  He grabs on, sword in one hand...

The dragon is circling clockwise to chase after Shae.

The miniaturized old man with white hair is fleeing south in panic away from the chamber.

Borimer starts slashing at the wyrm's scaled back with the full fury of a terrified man...

Tahldar begins to cast a spell.

OOC: Tahldar will try to cast charm person on the old man.  Range is 120 yards.  He hopes to stop from getting too far so he can ask him a few questions.

Kahan continues to cast spells. "We need to make it to the other side, and leave this place until we can fight the dragon elsewhere. Now you can walk on water," he tells everyone.

Because of delays and dropouts, here is the list of who I think is currently with the party:

Borimer (human warrior) (active)
Kahan (human cleric) (active)
Tahldar (elven mage) (active)
Shae (half-elf druid shapechanger) (active - currently in porpoise form)
Leo (Halfling fighter/thief assassin) (active)

Vuzyl (drow thief) (absent?)
Lukas (human rogue) (absent?)

My memory is failing me too, but I believe Donovan and Shapfren met a heroic end in one way or another.  Shapfren is in the memorials, but I don't recall Donovan--maybe the cave in?

(Haven't seen anything from Vuzyl and Lukas in awhile, but I do not recall them dying and haven't put them on the memorials. I may reassign their characters or temporarily NPC them.  You will probably need all the help you can get as we finish the climax to this adventure.)

In double checking, it looks like Vuzyl and Lukas are still alive.  I will assume that they are hanging back in the corridor with the remaining gnomes.

Please don't forget the gnomes.  If they all die, it will have a profound effect on the next adventure.  (2 out of the 6 remaining gnomes currently suffer from the disease.)

Also, as noted previously (although it's been awhile now), remember that the golden box is glowing brightly now.

Scratch my last post. Kahan will instead attempt to open the glowing box, calling out the dragon to face him.

Leo continues to stay out of site looking for an opportunity, or will run off if the group decides to deal with the dragon elsewhere.

Kahan takes out the glowing golden box as others continue taking actions...

Leo hides in the shadows.

Borimer strikes with his sword.  He is atop the back of the dragon and gets the blade in between the scales.

The dragon squeals a piercing cry and surfaces above the water with Borimer on its back.  But as most dragons, it is highly intelligent.  Borimer finds the dragon turning sideways and launching upward to smash Borimer into the ceiling and stalactites.

Borimer jumps out of the way just in time.

Tahldar is casting.

Shae successfully evades the dragon as it is distracted.

The heat from the previous spell is dissipating the fog, clearing your view of the entire room.

Borimer has just landed in the spot marked with an X (in the northeast), which is a perch about 10 feet above water that has green vegetation.  The X at the bottom is where the white haired man came from.



Tahldar finishes his spell, but nothing seems to happen. 

Kahan cannot find any way to open the gold box.  However, it catches the dragon's attention.  The dragon's wounds from Borimer heal almost immediately.

The dragon is now jumping into the raised center area (which is about 1 foot below the water level).  The dragon is far too heavy to be swept away by the current there, but it is leveling its gaze at Kahan.

"Give that to me," it says, rearing back its head.