Sure enough, the Black Mace in Dregz’s hand points directly at the pearl clutched in the crystal dragon’s claws.

"It's cold, but it is pretty here." Jurz comments to Moffa, as he looks out on the snowscape laid out before them.

Raven comes back to stand beside Bully, glowing rapier in her left hand, staring up at the crystal dragon with her right hand ready to catch the pearl when the dragon drops it.

"I'm ready," she squawks. "I'll catch it."

The crystal dragon watches the movements below her ledge with keen interest but no sign of agitation.

"Ard Enouff? No, Forya en' i' Leitha has never mentioned that name. Forya en' i' Leitha rarely speaks of anything except tyrants that force others to do their bidding. I think goblins would be beneath its notice. Arch-wizards, high priests, kings and queens, giant chieftains, ogre-magi, vampires, liches, chromatic dragons, devils and demons, even a lesser godling or two. Those are the types of subject that Forya en' i' Leitha focuses on. All the time. I will miss those fascinating conversations, of course, but I am sure the Galeb-Dhur will be a fine substitute."

Moffdust nods agreement to Jurz, it is a pretty place. She takes a deep breath of the cold air, warmed by the spell Dregz put on her. "Deres no giants out deres. Let's see if dey makes de deals wid de dragons." She returns back to the entrance to the dragon cavern to watch.

Bulldust has not even heard of most of those tyrants.  "Were dere any elfs on da list?" he asks hopefully.  "Or da Knights of da Watch?"  They're the only tyrants he can think of.  He waits to see what Dregz thinks of the pearl.  He gazes back and forth between the dragon and the goblin.

His mind wanders back over all those different versions of plans for attacking giants and dragons.   He remembers Jurz's advice that made the most sense, we have to get the magic-stick-thing from the dragon before making any more plans.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:56, Mon 18 Apr 2022.

Minmorc will prop his weapon against the cave wall and then will walk towards the dragon. Enlarging himself as he goes he will gently take the sack from Jurz and Bully and will place it on the ledge before the dragon. He will then take the pearl headpiece from the dragon and give it to Jurz.

"Cheers Crystal dragon. If you could show us der ugly stuff yer don't like we could go back inter dat nice little cave we found and talk about wot we can offer for it."

Bulldust pales to lime green as Minmorc makes himself look like a giant. He backs away, grabbing the birdie girl by her wing and hustling her towards the exit.

"Dat's id all righ' ..." Dregz is well in to an enthusiastic affirmation that the pearl is indeed a piece of the Magic Stick, if somewhat confused by the mention of tyrants, as he's not sure there's anything in his Holy Book about evil talking trees being in such lofty company as the others, and so very much looking forward to any clarifications on that score which Bully's question might elicit ... when Minmorc chooses that moment to do his best giant impersonation.

Wincing, gritting his teeth and crossing everything, the little goblin subsides back around the corner hoping for slightly better than relative safety.

Fortunately, or not, Jurz had followed Moffa back from the ledge - and arrived just in time to watch Min's transformation and approach to the dragon.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:42, Wed 20 Apr 2022.

The crystal dragon waited calmly as Bully checked with his little, hidden, hairy, goblin colleague to confirm the pearl was indeed the item they were after.

However, the dragon's calmness evaporated in an instant when Minmorc nonchalantly walked forward and grew taller with every step until he was 12 and a half feet tall. Minmorc calmly plucked the sack from Bully's fingers and held it up towards the dragon's ledge, but even giant Minmorc could not quite reach up 20 feet to the dragon's ledge.

The crystal dragon had reared up away from the ledge as Minmorc reached up toward it but the offered sack of gems and gold finally allayed its concerns.

"Don't ... do ... that!" the dragon finally screeched in its shrill voice. "A giant gobbo was bad enough but a giant orc is twice as revolting!"

However, after a long pause, it finally reached its head down to pluck the sack from Minmorc's hand and, very deliberately, reached over and opened its claws to drop the pearl down to Bully instead of Minmorc or Raven.

Minmorc will shrink back down to his regular size and will walk back over to his weapon. Leaning it over his shoulder he will walk to Dregz and will wait for the group to leave.

Dregz is staying where he is and waiting for Bully, much relieved that the Dragon didn't attack the big Orc ... and trying very hard not to think about the worry that this might be the last piece of the Magic Stick, in which case he's not sure what if anything will happen should he try, as they've done many times before, to use it to transport themselves to the next !  <whimper>

Bulldust relaxes and lets go of the birdie girl to catch the pearl, but is left with puzzling over maths again to decide just how big was that insult.  "If a giant orc is twice as bad as a giant bugbear ... an a bugbear is half ov a giant bugbear ... den you fink I'm a quarter ov 'revolting'?"  He looks ruefully up at the dragon, feeling mildly insulted.  "Dat's not nice, Crystal.  Yer won't get anyone ter trade wiv ya like dat!"

He calls up the entrance tunnel to Moffa and Jurz.  "We got wot we came for."

He walks over to where Minmorc and Dregz are waiting and gives Dregz the pearl.  Its clear he wants to say more, but not where the dragon can hear.  He heads outside wit Dregz and Minmorc.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:54, Sat 23 Apr 2022.

Twice as bad ...[Language unknown: "Not shewitcom stalinlat ovelesugh tederethe thuantwas !"] Dregz assures Bully, carefully positioning himself between the bugbear and the dragon as they make their way out to the cave mouth, with the precious pearl clutched tight in his hand and his little legs working hard to keep pace.

Minmorc doesn't care what the dragon thinks of him, he's found the prettier the thing the more shallow it tends to be. However, if the tribe changes the plan to "kill the dragon and take its stuff" he might be even happier with the victory and slower with the kill than normal.

Jurz is quite happy to make his way back towards the cave entrance, and grins at Dregz interpretation of the dragon's words.

Jurz doesn't care, either way, about the dragon.  In the end, they used good old-fashioned and well tried tactics - taking stuff from the dragon's house, and using that to swap for the thing they wanted.  It is a bit like raiding a farmer's fields and then selling him his own pigs!

Ot worries him slightly that the pearl thing they got spoke to the dragon.  But that is Dragz problem ....

Once we're all out on the ledge where the dragon can't hear, and keeping his voice low so Rocky can't listen, Bulldust asks what we're going to do next. "We got wot we came for but we didn't get rich gettin it.  Crystal is rich, so maybe we should rob her.  How about we trick her inta goin after da giants wiv us, den when she's out dere we all pop back ere wiv Dregzie's stick an grab her stuff.  Does dat sound like da start ov a plan?"

Minmorc will encourage Bully to chat in the cave instead of out on the ledge. "I thought der stick brought us ere cause der next bit of stick woz on der dragons head. Do we want ter stash der next bit of stick in dis cave so we can hop back ere or do we wanna put der stick tergether ter see wot it doz? An my vote wood be kill der dragon an take its stuff. Trick it, mebbe fings go ter plan, big mebbe an now a pissed off dragon out der hates you, kill it an yer can add its bits ter der treasure count."

Discussion moved to OOC thread for convenience

The crystal dragon takes the sack of gems and gold back into its lair but returns to the ledge above the tunnel before Team Arda-Nuff are all out of sight. It has several items clutched in its foreclaws.

"Now perhaps we can discuss other items you might like to trade for," It suggests. "There are still more frost giants out there for you to slay and their treasures to be won. As I said before, I have several other items that seem unforgivably ugly to me, but I suspect your kind might like them very much."

"This fist-sized blob of ectoplasm looks disgusting, doesn't it? It is called the Skin of the Fiend. I peeled it off a human who tried to rob my cave years ago. It gave him a number of fiendish powers and protections but it doesn't fit anyone as large as me. Besides, red is just not my colour, but it could be yours if you bring me a giant's head and 3,000 gold coins worth of treasure.

"Or do you prefer the orc god Gruumsh? A nasty old orc thought he could kill me many years ago, but he just gifted me his ugly old shield, spear and gauntlets instead. Look at this old wooden shield – the shield of the severed hand. That blood-stained hand print won’t ever scrub off. Or what about this awkward old spear with its horrible red spearhead? A spear of retribution, apparently. If you throw it away it always comes back. But look at this rusty old iron gauntlet, too. It is still covered in flakes of blood and it looks like someone has actually painted an eye on the back of it in blood, too. Behold the gauntlet of Gruumsh, he said. It will be the last thing you ever see, he said, just before I enlightened him with the power of my breath. Nasty, ugly things, all of them. I am sure you would love them. If you bring me another giant head you can have the shield for 2,000 gold, the spear for 4,000 or the gauntlet for another 4,000 gold.

"Perhaps one of you goblins would be more excited about this little corrosive glove instead? See how badly scarred and pitted the leather is? It does that to anything you touch, too. Or if you throw a rock or a spear it is like you drenched them in acid before you threw them. You like the sound of that, don’t you? Bring me a giant head and 2,000 gold and you can have it too.

"Or is this tentacle rod more to your taste? If all three of those nasty tentacles hit your foe it slows him down so you can kill him more easily or simply run away while he can't chase after you. Bring me a giant head and 7,000 gold and it is all yours."

"I like dose stories Crystal, but yer price is a bit high fer all dat stuff wot you can't use.  An we're da ones doin all da work."  He shrugs and makes to walk off again, then turns back.  "Suppose we were ta go get all dese heads, would youse come along an help?  Maybe youse could fly inta dere cave entrance an fry all da wolfs, den we jump off yer back an run in ter get da heads - how'd yer like ter tell dat story?"  He lets her digest that idea for a moment then adds, "I'm jus supposin, not offerin."  He waits for her reply before joining the rest of the party.

When they're away from the dragon, Moffdust blows out her cheeks. "Dragons! Dey wants too much."

Dregz is one for following divine instructions to the letter and not at all hot on tactical manoeuvres and stratagems.

The goblin priest ignores most of the discussion as he happily puzzles out how to attach the recently acquired bit of the Magic Stick to the rest of the whole, his tongue sticking out as he concentrates on the task.

"I'se wonders if de acidy glove works when I am de polar bear ..." Jurz muses as he watched Dregz play around with the stick and pearl.