Eilieen has studied Colwyn all day with narrowed eyes, wondering at his slip.  A not-so veiled reference to common Zadasthan practices?  A personal quip regarding his thoughts on her own practices?  Some kind of offer, couched in thieves' cant?  Or an offer of a more personal nature?

She can't figure it out, and that vexes her; without the specifics, emotional response would be counterproductive.  She might fly into an offended fury, only to find out it was a Colwyn-style compliment.  Alternately, she might accept it with gratitude, only to find him creeping into her room at night, firm in the idea she had invited him.

What to do, what to do...

But at the roar, she lets out a small squeak.  Glancing about in some embarassment, the priestess coughs once or twice and continues in a slightly deeper tone than normal.  "What, pray tell, might that be?"  Her fingers scrabble across the boards of the wagon and find her spear.

Caugth up in the Colwyn Problem, she hasn't noticed the 'grasping shadows', but this is a different matter entirely.

Oh, wait!

"Aarnr!" she shouts out, hoping to pre-empt.  "Do NOT go running off - stay here with us!"

Aarnr has been studying the sides of the road all day, missing entirely Eilieen's sidelong glances at Colwyn, and grins fiercely as his patience is at last rewarded by what sounds like some huge beast casually felling trees that block its way.

Swiftly shouldering his bow, the priest leaps down from the cart, drawing his two-handed sword and ... stands around glumly as the Zadasthan rouses from her reverie and in no uncertain terms bids him hold.

"But there's a muddy-mettled mumble-news out there !" he pleads his case.  "It might froggin' get away !"

"What is all that racket?"

Bilfro stirs from his beauty sleep with legit complaint.  After all, who can sleep when trees makes such a fuss about falling down without anyone around to watch?

"Odysseus, fly forth and spy with your, uh, big eye, would you?" he says and nudges the large owl seated next to him.

One eye opens and glares at the offending nudger, as if considering whether to munch thereupon or not.

Then, with mighty flapping of mighty wings, the mighty owl shoves the less mighty nudger over and flies - with might, of course - up into the sky.

Eilieen manages to restrain Aarnr from running off in a random direction, in search of the source of the noises in th forest, while Bilfro dispatches his mighty stupendous familiar to wing his way above the trees and report whatever he discovers.

For long moments, Odysseus Warfield Leonidas, that winged observer, circles above the treetops, his keen-eyed gaze (alongside which the eyes of a hawk pale in comparison) sweeps the terrain for anything which might seem pertinent.

On the road, however, things are no less exciting, as Honil attempts to calm his drivers and urge the remaining guards to greater vigilance as his own eyes scan the nearby forest for whatever dangerous creature may be lurking there...  "I say, I have no idea what that might have been." he confides in the group of adventurers, "Have any of you heard anything like it before?  The roar, I mean, not the falling tree."

Bilfro watches the sky, and is soon rewarded with the sight of his mighty glorious companion flying towards him.

Eilieen continues the steely-eyed stare, hoping to keep Aarnr momentarily cowed.  Unlikely, but it seems to be working thus far.

"If we run off, perchance its companions - many of them - might attack this caravan from the other direction."  She's stretching things with this, Eilieen knows.  "Best we hold steady - if the beast is truly dangerous, Aarnr, it shall come to this caravan in search of food.  And we shall deal with it."

The priestess shrugs.  "If not, then perhaps it is a weak thing with a mighty roar, nothing more.  Let it SHOW its strength, and then we shall attack.  But not before!"

There's logic in that mess somewhere, she's certain, but it has escaped her.  Which might make it perfect for Aarnr, the priestess reflects.

She shoots a glance to Honil.  "I have no idea, but as you say - best we prepare."

Aarnr is neither able nor willing to follow the twists and turns of Eilieen's argument, but seems happy enough that it's designed to end in a fight.

"Froggin' owlbears," the priest informs the caravan master with confidence and a goodly measure of hope.  "Fought one before and the gleepin' rump-gnawin' hugger-mugger nearly killed us !" he reassures Honil.

The enormous owl swoops down and as the bird circles low above him, the mage starts to gain an impression of what it has seen with those mad, staring, yellow eyes. 

Odysseus briefly considers utilising Bilfro as a perch, then decides to use a pine tree instead.  A tall one...

Honil smiles at Aarnr's enthusiasm, but it doesn't seem particularly pleased at the thought of the creature, whatever it is, coming to attack his caravan.  In fact, he looks worried sick at the idea.  Secretly he hopes that it was just the sound of the wind, and the tree (being old and diseased) had simply toppled of its own accord.

Unfortunately he's not so sure that he could be that lucky.

"Owlbears?  Are you sure?  I've never seen one, but this sounded much too large to fit the descriptions I've heard."

"It..it..it..it.ititit.....ssss....."

Bilfro looks not only fully awake but also rather energized all of a sudden.

"Uh..uh...uh...a.a.a..."

A loud gulp and he appears more or less monochrome.  Must be magic at work.

"Duh..duh..duh..d.d.d...." he explains with a cool word and carefully chosen heads.

".....dragon......"

A high-pitch squeak more than anything else later and the incredibly keen mind of the very powerful wielder of the ancient arts of magic spots something out of order underneath the nearest wagon and ducks beneath in for a closer inspection.

"Giant owlbears," Aarnr replies cheerfully, though likely his response doesn't get the attention it deserves, following Bilfro's very dramatic announcement.

"Dragon !" the priest echoes (much, much more loudly) the wizened wizards words, hardly able to believe his luck.

"We ought to make a lot of noise, in case it misses us," the thought is unbearable.

Erista sits up, not quite sure she heard Bilfro, but Aarnr's repetition is loud and clear.  Her first thought is to look to Bilfro and ask, "Is Odysseus alright?"

Ozzy cringes at the sound of the 'D' word, then straightens himself up and pulls a javelin from his pack. He didn't want to appear weak in front of Aarnr, so he puffs out his chest and scans the horizons for any sign of the nightmare dragon growling in the woods. " Are you sure we are strong enough to face down a DRAGON?!" he squeaks, then shuts his mouth, his face flushing with embarrassment now that his words have betrayed his true feelings on the matter. " Well then, BRING IT ON!!" he covers, trying once again to seem larger than he actually is.

"Goodness!" Honil exclaims, his face growing suddenly pale "A dragon?  I don't believe I've ever heard of such a thing in these parts."

Colwyn snorts, "Aarnr can be 'avin' it, I reckons.  That pig sticker of 'is'll be makin' short work of it.  If'n it's a big one, there might even be enough meat on the bugger ter be fillin' 'is belly.  Bilfro, is yer owl sayin' what way the thing's bein' in?"

There seems to be a certain amount of consternation among the caravan guards and drivers at the idea of a dragon lurking nearby.  Honil starts trying to calm them down.  "Steady men.  It's probably a mistake.  I have, in my years of trading along this road, never heard of a dragon hereabouts.  As I say, it's probably... "

Another roar interrupts him, followed by cries of panic among the men.

"Were that bein' closer?  I's reckonin' as it were soundin' closer."  Colwyn moves closer to the wagon and kicks the wheel.  "Bilfro!  What way?"

Honil's men seems to be getting into the spirit of things though it might be better if they drop their voices an octave or two.  But then again, Aarnr is reliably informed that the civilised men of the western lands have no tentacles¹.

The priest joins in, roaring along with them. "OVER HERE, THOU CULLIONLY, CLAPPER-CLAWED CANKER-BLOSSOM !"

¹ Might have lost something in the translation.  Froggin' decadent language.

"Of course he's fine, he can fly away, can he not?" Bilfro replies to the health-related inquiry of his owly friend while he continues his inspection of the wagons undercarriage.

"It should be closer, it is after all heading approximately this way, from over there," he replies calmly with a dignified tremor to his voices as if sitting on a cart rolling down the side of a particularly rocky hillside while being stuck in adolescence before the breaking of the voice.  "With some luck it will do a thunderstorm and double back on itself, away from here."

A few heartbeats later he remembers to lift an arm to point out the direction, an arm as steady as a knights flail in combat, but at least it is a general indication.

Eilieen breifly considers tackling Aarnr, but holds off for two reasons: the first, it might pander to Zadasthan stereotype and people would misunderstand, the second that she'd likely just bounce.  "Aarnr!  Stifle yourself!" she hisses, moving up to stand facing the (vague) direction indicated by Bilfro.

"If that is a dragon, and it comes here, there is no chance we'll be able to stop it from killing some of the people we're supposed to protect!"  And us she considers, but keeps that to herself.

"Honil!" she calls - as quietly as one might possibly 'call' - "Now might be a time to have your people take refuge or find places to hide."

Keep them safe.  Don't run.  Keep them safe.  Don't run.  The words flow through her head like a mantra, and Eilieen clenches her spear with white-knuckled fingers.

Aarnr considers that 'stifle' - an odd word ... and in the context of Eilieen's curious attitude to the dragon, probably not one that means "go get it !"

The priest isn't sure who he's supposed to be protecting, but considers killing the dragon would go a fair way towards that.

However the priestess is definitely doing rather well at organising Honil's men into position for an ambush, which doesn't seem in accordance with her seeming dislike of the dragon ... all in all, most confusing.

Bilfro points, and it immediately becomes apparent that he is pointing roughly downwind.  There is another roar, and a sound like the sails of a ship snapping taut as the wind suddenly picks up.

And moments later, a shape appears circling overhead.  Serpentine in form, but with great wings, like those of a huge bat,  Its horned head tilts, and one yellow eye fixes itself  on the caravan...

And then the creature folds its wings and plummets, to land on two legs in the roadway, where it spreads its pinions threateningly.  Head low, and tail held high behind it, like that of a scorpion, complete with a vicious looking barb on the end.  A foul black liquid drips from that barb, to sizzle and burn upon the road surface.

It cocks its head to one side, and lets out a roar which sets the horses screaming in terror.

Honil's men are already scattering, though many of the guards are readying crossbows...

OOC: Initiative checks and descriptions of actions please.

Gods above.  It IS a dragon.  Eilieen can only stare in horrified disbelief as it slams down to the road.  An odd portion of her mind absently wonders if it is a dragon, shouldn't it be larger?  The rest of her mind argues that, no, it's plently large already.

"Zadastha!"  Somehow she manages not to stutter, and views it as a major victory.  "I call your lap-dog of love, your canine of care!"  Divine energies play about her, forming a ball of misty light on the roadway beside the priestess.  Raising her hand, she points a (slightly trembling) finger at the monstrosity before them.

"Go, doggie!"

OOC - Unsurprisngly, Summon Monster II (Celestial Riding Dog).  Also unsurprisingly, a wopping 8 for initiative.  :D

Erista doesn't even waste a moment to look at the thing.  Impressive though it is, she reckons she'll have plenty of time to study it later, after Aarnr is done with it.  For now, her job, she's quite sure, is to stay out of Bowbe's way, and with that in mind, she joins the scattering.

Seeing the actual dragon quickly has Ozzy reconsidering his plan to stand side by side with Aarnr in battling the beast. Dropping his javelin and picking up his lute, Ozzy decides it better to bolster those who are strong enough to battle the dragon by singing a ballad of encouragement...

" Come ride with me
 Through the veins of history
 I'll show you how god
 Falls asleep on the job

 And how can we win
 When fools can be kings
 Don't waste your time
 Or time will waste you.

 No one's gonna take me alive
 The time has come to make things right
 You and I must fight for our rights
 You and I must fight to survive..."

BARDIC SONG: Courage +1
INITIATIVE: 14
This message was last edited by the player at 23:12, Thu 16 Oct 2014.

The sight of the fearsome dragon landing in the middle of the road, is almost enough to make a man forget himself and thank the kindly gods.  Almost ...


"Bowbe, thou saucy, dismal-dreaming maggot-pie ... it's not froggin' BIG enough !"  Aarnr screams, eyes shining as he launches himself down the rough trail, sword held high over his head and a challenging roar building in his throat, as Bowbe's mantle settles over him, reducing the world to just himself and the foe, his bellow reaching full if entirely inarticulate volume as he plows into the creature, swinging mightily if rather recklessly.

There is a dragon on the road.  An ugly one, with greenish-gray scales, horns, and claws.  And breath that smells like something died in its mouth about a month ago, and is still there.  Colwyn is, momentarily, lost for words.

And then he reaches deep, and takes inspiration from the words of a wise man...

"Frog that!"

Standing well back, and hoping that the dragon isn't one of those fire-breathing types that he's heard about, he fits an arrow to his bow.  He's also heard tell that some of these dragons have a weak spot in their hide, right over their heart...

The trouble is, he has no idea where a dragon keeps its heart, so he just aims for the body in general, and releases the arrow...

As the dragon circles overhead, Fergus reaches into the back of the cart and grabs his scythe.  By the time the monster lands on the road, the big farmer is already running towards it, right behind Aarnr.

Putting all of his weight into the blow, and howling a challenge, he swings the scythe at the creature's head...

Brave Sir Bilfro find that the dragon did not land on his hiding place while he fumbled to retrieve his weapon of dragon slaying, the crossbow that for some unexplainable reason appears smaller than ever before.

When the dragon lands he manages to boldly not shoot himself by mistake but instead lift the mighty crossbow in the general direction of the beast and fire.  There is a distinct possibility that his eyes still were open at the time.