5 to Verdant Sun, Inalis, 57 days remaining
Further down we went into the tomb of Jasena. The third level of this labyrinthian dungeon was quite a mess. When we got down here, I learned what is a bone naga. Sort of. I’m still not entirely sure. It’s a snake. But it talks. And it has no skin. Just bones. Obviously some magic keeps it moving around, but I don’t know the specifics. It was quite vile.
The bone naga explained to my group that we were being tasked by the master of this dungeon in order to meet it. Our task was simple: light all the torches on this level of the tomb. Should we fail, our friends would perish. It was awful, Heath! Shadow, Torag, Mimriko and I went on our way, and we got attacked by some strange shifting dragon dog things. One came out of nowhere (in quite a literal sense) and beat the stuffing out of me. Shadow and Torag saved me while we started lighting torches as fast as we could. Mimriko called it a Drake of Displacement or something, but I misunderstood and kept calling it a Disappointment Dog.
The next room was an utter disaster. The floor is cracked and broken in several places, and there’s a strange viscous green goo everywhere that Torag kept getting his hooves stuck in. Shadow took Torag and Mimriko one way while I stayed behind. I saw Clio across a gap in the floor getting attacked by one of those awful dog things. I shielded her as best as I could when Rendu came out from another area and helped us fend it off. Clio and Rendu told me the other half of the dungeon’s perils: a monstrous draconian was fighting Actaeon one-vs-one and poor Actaeon couldn’t damage him because of a magic shield the draconian had on it. The shield only drops when we light the torches!
Clio, Rendu, and I teamed up now to fight off the disappointment dog while searching for more torches. Our adventure took us through a few hallways covered in old cobwebs before we emerged on the other side, lit the torches, and found the things we needed to move on. Shadow, Torag, and Mimriko joined up with us at this point, and we all moved towards the draconian after the last torch was lit.
Briar filled me in on what happened with Actaeon and the draconian. Briar had summoned a few black bears to protect Actaeon while the centurian fought bravely against the draconinan dreadnaught. It must have been quite the sight! I guess Clio had put a speed spell on Actaeon to make him move faster – kind of like how Shadow had been moving on floor two – and Actaeon couldn’t be hit! He just kept dodging and rolling, frustrating the draconian. When the shield spell wore off (on account of our torch lighting skills!), Actaeon quickly put the beast down.
After a short rest, we moved onto the last floor of the dungeon. Here, we were met with a series of doors, each eventually leading to the chamber where Jasena’s body was laid to rest. Torag and Briar’s doors had a few traps in them, but they avoided those things well enough and we were able to move on.
The large vault with Jasena’s sarcophagus was awful. Water had pooled in here and turned a murky green and brown color, and the odor was enough to curl even my messy hair! At the back was the sarcophagus and a large pile of gold. The gold should really have tipped us off to the dragon that clung to the ceiling, but we were tired, dirty, and exhausted.
Salamul the Dreadsower was his name and he was sent here by Amalj’aa to bring ruin to the Isle of the Sleepy Drake. He mocked us and our progress, then said he’d let us all live if we left him to take over the island with the blight that he sowed. We told him that would not be the case. I’m afraid the dragon was left quite disappointed with the outcome of our fight.
It was brutal, if I’m being honest. I was afraid at every moment, but I think I did a good job putting on a brave face. Shadow had some weird spell cast on him to make him temporarily afraid, so we lost him for a bit. Torag hit the dragon quite hard, causing him to fly up out of our range. Actaeon was far away from it, so Clio switched their locations with a burst of energy, placing herself over by the pile of gold. This will be important later.
Salamul summoned strange beasts made of poison to challenge us while he retreated. Actaeon made short work of these with his lightning spears. Briar and I each put some powerful spells into Salamul, chastising him for running away. The dragon breathed some poison at us, but we stood our ground – partially because of Rendu’s magical aura protecting us. Shadow eventually returned once the spell had worn off and began putting arrows into the dragon.
About this time, the pile of gold began moving. I guess mimics are pretty large down here! It wrapped up Clio and tried to eat her, but she held fast and fought it off until Shadow and Torag could rescue her. Briar and I cast some spells of healing to help our friends while Actaeon and Rendu kept fighting the dragon. Finally, Shadow pulled Clio free and snarled at Salamul. “Die, you son of a bitch!”
With that, the dragon fell and died. And almost immediately, the murky water around it began clear. That was good, but Clio and Shadow were still in danger. The mimic lashed out at them again. Rendu and I flew to them, but the mimic breathed some putrid gas from its maw and Rendu fell unconscious. I wanted to heal Clio, but Rendu was hurt. Torag joined the fight and slammed the mimic around, finally knocking it away from the others. Clio used a burst of mystic power and finally killed the creature, laughing at it for not being able to actually kill her despite its teeth and size.
We’ve decided to rest for a few minutes before we deal with the dead dragon. The room smells sweeter already, but that might be Clio and Briar trying to cheer everyone up. My magic is almost fully spent, and Kiora won’t bless me with new abilities until tomorrow morning.
I’ll write more later. Right now, Torag and Actaeon opened up Jasena’s sarcophagus. I keep hearing them saying something about eggs. Oh wow, I’m quite hungry!