A moment of fear and shadow passes near enough by that it's noticable to the group though the shadow doesn't pause over them. A quick glance skyward shows a young dragon with scales unburnished by time and a small horn on its snout as it struggles to fly with the limp hanging corpse of a half chewed horse and a rider missing a head dangling at an odd angle to the saddle.

The dragon is not much larger than the horse it carries and it is flying off to the southwest. Judging by it's load and hard working slow beats of its wings, it's likely not going very far.

"Well?"  Alister politely spoke as he directed his sword arm to the flying blue dragon.  "Anyone suggesting that we go after it?"

"That would be me." Lysande said, her voice didn't seem to carry any mirth, indicating it was a simple statement. The sun elf turned Mourns around, looking after the dragon as it heads off for his meal and possible lair. "Will you join me?"

"No problem."  Alister said as he follows Lysande.

From her perch behind Joseph, Aelynia whispered something into his ear.  There was no need for her to tell Lysande and Alister of her intentions.  By now they knew her well enough to know that if they were heading into danger, she would be too.  Especially if it meant protecting innocents and saving lives.

Joseph whispered something in reply to Aelynia, before moving to follow Lysande.

Smiling softly, Aelynia nodded and made herself a bit more comfortable.  Since she couldn't see over the much taller human, she contented herself to resting her cheek against his back so that she could watch the scenery as it went by.

The party traverses the terrain on the ground mirroring the dragon's path in the sky. The going is slower than on the road, as the dragon's way overland passes through many bits of scrub and rocks as well as up and down dunes of soft sand. Several times, riders are forced to shift their actions to assist their mounts in passing through the uneven terrain.

The air cools uncustomarily as the party travels. After an hour, a brisk wind flirts with loose bits of clothing and light bits of gear and the heat is broken by the scent of rain on the air. Rix takes a moment to pull a scarf up over his face, obscuring all but his startling blue eyes, and he pulls a pair of wooden goggles with slits in them and dons those as well.

In a low voice, he warns the others that a sandstorm is approaching within the next candlemark or so. The terrain levels off and the party comes to high desert, the road is left well behind. Far in the distance, the dragon's form and color, a blur amidst the brown and golds of the sand, is made even more indistinct by the weather. The movements of the form suggest it is making reptitive motions from ground to air though the party can not see what it is messing with, they have a good guess, given their observation of moments before.

OOC: I need the following rolls: initiative, listen, spot, survival, knowledge: nature if anyone has it, and move silently and hide if anyone is attempting that as well. Also, post your actions as normal.

Lysande squinted her eyes, like she often did in the glaring sun, and her ears twitched "Did you hear something?" she asked her companions before she began to prepare herself like Rix, except that she didn't have any goggles.

Slipping from her mount she retrieved her beautiful new quiver and took her longbow in hand. If there had been time, she would have admired the elven craftsmanship, but there wasn't for such luxury. "We should spread out, I do not want all of us caught in his breath or a spell of his." she added as she sneaked closer to their prey.

ooc: Initiative 18
Listen 24, Spot 33, Survival 22, knowl.nature, hide 14, move silently 20.

How long is a candl emark?

"I'll charge in as soon as the fighting start."  Alister said a little unsure what to do.

----
08:28, Today: Alister Flaga rolled 3 using 1d20+2. initiative.
08:28, Today: Alister Flaga rolled 17 using 1d20+3. survival.
08:27, Today: Alister Flaga rolled 16 using 1d20+2. spot.
08:27, Today: Alister Flaga rolled 17 using 1d20+2. listen.

Slipping off the camel's back, Joseph helped Aelynia down, and then whispered for the animal to stay safe, away from the fighting.


OOC:
12:42, Today: Joseph Copeland rolled 13 using 1d20+10. Survival.
12:41, Today: Joseph Copeland rolled 12 using 1d20+7. Knowledge (Nature).
12:41, Today: Joseph Copeland rolled 8 using 1d20+7. Spot.
12:41, Today: Joseph Copeland rolled 26 using 1d20+7. Listen.
12:40, Today: Joseph Copeland rolled 8 using 1d20+2. Initiative.

Whispering her thanks to Joseph, Aelynia gave him an impulsive hug, worried for him, before moving away from him and straight towards danger.  "If we're going to attack now, we must hurry to also be able to prepare or find adequate shelter before the sandstorm gets here," she reminds everyone softly.

08:34, Today: Aelynia Th'wil rolled 20 using 1d20+1. Survival.
08:34, Today: Aelynia Th'wil rolled 18 using 1d20+6. Spot.
08:34, Today: Aelynia Th'wil rolled 10 using 1d20+7. Listen.
              No Knowledge: Nature skill.
08:34, Today: Aelynia Th'wil rolled 5 using 1d20+4. Init.

Order of Initiative:
18  Lysande
 8  Joseph
 5  Aelynia
 3  Alister

The party, intent on removing the danger of the blue dragon, creep closer and at first the dragon does not appear to notice them. Its attention appears to be on its meal, which the party notices it has not paused in its actions of eating by tearing chunks of flesh off the corpse of the horse and rearing his head back to swallow.

Those in the party with the keenest ability to overhear noise can make out the following:

The party draws nearer yet, within about 130 feet of the dragon's position when it looks up, looking around warily it doesn't spot the party, as they are obscured by the natural scenery and the rising winds carrying about skeins of sand which ripple on the wind. The dragon's ears, however, flick around and its tongue licks out to sample the air and slowly its head turns in the direction of the party--which it still cannot see.

As the dragon's position shifts, it reveals some wounds on its chest. Apparently, his prey had put up a spirited resistance and there are scales torn away by some type of weapon used on the dragon.

Those in the party who have experienced rough conditions enough to take precautions for survival are innately aware that

And of those knowledgeable of nature, the following is what they perceptions are gleaned from nature around them:

Round 1, actions?

"We need to take decisive action now. I will open the attack with an arrow, for now, you should stay covered." she whispered and produced a newly acquired wand as she shifted to a better position. Pointing at her bow she spoke the phrase that activated it and the weapon glowed a deep red. Swiftly the sun elf put the wand away and readied herself to send an arrow against the dragon.

ooc: 5ft step, draw wand as part of movement, std. activate wand "Hunter's mercy", move stow wand.

"The storm is coming, and quick - we have less than a minute," Joseph spoke quietly after a few moments, and glanced up at the sky.  "Stay close to me," he whispered to Aelynia, wanting to make sure she'd be safe.

The look that Aelynia gave Joseph said all she needed to say.  They would work together, as they had been learning to do over the time they'd spent together, but as usual she would do what was needed to protect all of her friends and all of Faerûn if necessary.  But of course there was something else in her gaze.  Worry for him above all else.

The elf needed to ready nothing for she was the weapon with which she would attack.  She had no preparations to make other than a softly whispered prayer to Ilmater that he would see them, her and her friends, through as they suffered to help save others.  But by now she had learned that Joseph would have a fit if she rushed head-long into battle without him, so she did as he asked for now, staying close to him wherever he went even though she fairly ached to get at that dragon as soon as she could.  She only wished that they could wait out the storm in safety first.

Alister nocks an arrow on his bow and moves a little away from Lysande.

---
ooc
Alister moves about 6 blocks to Lysande's right-hand side and prepares to attack

Round 1 -surprise round ended-

Order of Initiative:
18  Lysande
15  Dragon
12  Rix
 8  Joseph
 5  Aelynia
 3  Alister

Actions for round one now that your surprise round is over?

"Tymora hates me!" Lysande mutters to herself as she sees the arrow veer of from the intended course, glancing off the dragon's scales. As quickly as she can she knocks another arrow, preparing to fire...

ooc: Attack 13. Lucky me :(

ooc: Aelynia, Joseph, Alister... have you abandoned me?

OOC: I think either they are busy with RL or the game might be too slow for them or they may just be tied up with much of the running of the RoA boards.

I was considering dropping Anauroch because of how little activity goes on here compared to my other games...this comment to be deleted if game starts up again.

Alister still mounted let loose an arrow at the dragon.


ooc:
Actually no, I was waiting for others to post since I'm below the initiative order.  But oh well.
18:32, Today: Alister Flaga rolled 10 using 1d8+2. L bow dmg.
18:32, Today: Alister Flaga rolled 27 using 1d20+8. atk with long bow MW arrow.

I haven't seen hide nor hair of the other two and its been a long wait (for me). I know ROA has a policy of games advancing slowly but this is a bit long in the tooth. I've been watching about and haven't seen any other actions by the remaining two PCs. I am going to stop checking this thread unless someone alerts me otherwise.

For the characters existing, the party was not even a day's trek from the city of Shade, an easy location to restock and resupply and ready for another adventure or travel to another location.

I'm willing to continue this thread but only if there's some more interaction otherwise, it's a good breaking point to find another area or geographical region or regroup.

I'll be around. Let me know, or PM me or something.

OOC:  Well the black abyss struck RPoL again.  I had posted that Aelynia would advance forward, but I can see now that it's not here.  My apologies.  I can repost that and we can go on, or we can discuss anything necessary now.

As for Joseph, he mentioned in the DM's lounge that he's having some RL difficulties and needs his characters to be NPC'd for awhile, so if you could do that it would be greatly appreciated.  If all else fails, I suppose I could try to NPC him, but I really don't think I'd do the character justice, especially since as far as Aelynia is concerned she wants him as far from danger as possible.

I'll wait for the input of the others then at this point.

I don't usually check the DM lounge or the OOC lounge since I work graveyards and typically check and advance my RPOL games in the roughly hour shaped slot of time I have before I go to work because I work long houred shifts (between 12-16).

The best way for someone to reach me about the games I run is typicaly to PM me, use an OOC, or rMail me. (It never occurred to me to check in the DM threads for my PC player information/news.) I don't check in the boards where I don't typically have any responsibilities to the players...anyways, I'll wait for the remaining two characters input before making any decisions. Especially since the way I usually check for PC related activities is to use the Cast button at the top of the menu.

If I see log in and posting information pertaining to the game, I generally assume it only takes a couple of seconds to shoot off a message if someone is logged in. Which is what I did see. Anyways, no biggie...it's up to the players now.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:58, Tue 05 Aug 2008.