It'd now been the fourth day at sea and Feroz was exhausted. He'd taken command of the doomed ship that now listlessly drifted in the ocean as he, and the others struggled to keep the ship afloat. The Waveblade, as she'd been called, was sixty two feet in length on deck. The main topsail and main foresail had both been destroyed by the blue dragons. The mast that held both the mainsail and foresail beneath it were both torn and useless, the mast itself severely damaged. Holes created by collisions with other ships during the escape effort lined the port, bow, starboard and even the stern as ships had collided into the back as it had become impaled on other ships. The other survivors aboard the Waveblade were all working to try and keep the water from entering the ship when high waves crashed into her sides. No one had truly slept since the escape, as they frantically moved around the ship; some distraught beyond reconciliation as they had been separated from their family in the chaos of the escape. Morale aboard the vessel as she struggled to stay afloat had plummeted each day that passed and it became more clear, though they'd survived and escaped the attack on Haligoth, it would seem that they had only belayed their death sentence, and they would either die aboard the ship or sink with her, when there was no one left to keep her barely above the sea.

Though the sails were damaged, the Waveblade still moved quickly, as the tide and waves were pulling her out of the massive bay and into the New Sea. Feroz, an experienced sailor, knew - with the Waveblade in this condition - that was not a good thing, as New Sea was prone to storms and in this condition, the ship could not handle such a thing.

It had been roughly two in the afternoon, when Thalia, who had been looking out to see in hopes of spotting some form of land, caught sight of something else. Thalia called Feroz over, "I saw something on the tide. Looked humanoid."

"Did it look like an elf?" Feroz asked. He'd been aware of the Dimernesti and the Dargonesti, both of them sea elves, and had hoped, if Thalia did see something humanoid that it could be one of them; perhaps then they could barter for assistance from them.

"No," she shook her head. "It was covered in scales. Looked like a fish-person." 

Thalia had seen mer-men before, human-like beings that had the torsos of humans, but their lower body had been that of a fish. This did not look like that; but was much closer. The lower body had been that of a fish, but the upper torso had scales like a fish, as did its arms.

Feroz shook his head and growled, "Merrow. Tell everyone to get ready. We're in for a fight."

Long ago, the Dimernesti Elves, who were one of the two primary types of sea elves, also known as the shoal elves lived in the ocean, much like their cousins the Dargonesti. Both had originally hailed from the land elves, but had been altered by the Graygem and leapt into the depths of the seas in the early ages of Krynn. When first entering the sea, they made the great sea-kingdom known as Dimernost, and then built a number of smaller settlements around their new capital, titling their kingdom as Dimernesti. 

The Cataclysm resulted in great change for all of Ansalon, and the Dimernesti were not spared. Great tidal waves and undersea earthquakes destroyed all the coastal settlements of the Dimernesti, and the sole surviving city was their capital of Dimernost. With the exception of the residents of Dimernost, the Dimernesti elves became a nomadic people, living in small family groups that moved from coral reef to kelp bed. The Dimernesti became bitter towards the Dargonesti, believing that their sea-elf cousins should have been punished just as much as they were. 

A small sect of Dimernesti sought vengeance and turned to the goddess, Zeboim, also known as the Sea Witch, the Darkling Sea, who represented the godly force of strife. She encouraged souls to give into their urges and release anger. Though Zeboim is the daughter of Takhisis and Sargonnas, she strongly dislikes them, along with Chemosh, though she worked with both her parents on occasion. She has a special dislike for Habbakuk, who she sees as her true foe because of his power of the sea.

It'd been those who called on Zeboim who garnered her attention; their first for vengeance and anger had been appealing coming from Elven-ilk. It was said that she came to their chief, whose name has long since lost and forgotten, and struck a deal with them. She would grant them powers to get their revenge against their cousins, so long as they promised to also attack anyone who sailed the ocean and did not call on her for favor; and to always attack and kill anyone who followed Habbakuk. The chief agreed and they had been transformed to the monstrosities known as Merrow, whose upper torso looked as if it had been both human and fish at one time, muscular in size. Their lower body, that of a large fish, with their body covered in scales that were usually muted green or blue. Morphed to have long, sharp teeth and claws, Merrow could easily rend flesh.

"Everyone, get away from the edges of the ship!" Feroz barked, though he knew this would be difficult. He'd assigned people to row from the fragments of the ship as make-shift oars since the sails had been destroyed; without anyone rowing they would be sitting ducks. As the other survivors began to panic, one of them was harpooned and pulled off the side of the ship and pulled beneath the tides. This was how the Merrow often attacked vessels; harpoons to pull their victims off the ship and immediately drown them to consume their flesh later.

Screams came from the other side of the ship and Feroz realized they were attacking from both sides. A javelin sailed near Thalia's head as she watched it fly and strike one of the Merrow directly in the chest. She heard a high pitched voice shout, "Did you see that! I got him!" Thalia was quite impressed by the kender named Braid Lockpick, but she also realized the javelin he'd just thrown had been one of hers.

"That was my javelin!" Thalia growled.

"You must have dropped it! But I made good use of it!" Braid said, quite pleased with himself. "But the Merrow did go underwater. I am not sure I can get it back for you. That one might be a loss."

Thalia wanted to scold the kender to keep his hands to himself and off of her belongings - but, the kender was right - it had been a good throw. On Taladas, the "Kender" - better known as the Marak Kender (or Marakai) were a dour and had come from the Marak Valleys of the Steamwall Mountains. The Marakai once lived carefree lives like their Ansalonian cousins, and believed that they were favored and protected by the gods.

However the Great Destruction (what the people of Ansalon call The Cataclysm) and it brought about death and destruction to their land and changed everything. The sky and flora around them became covered in ash, the waters of the region were poisoned, and the walls of the valleys crushed many homes and entire communities. At first, the Marakai blamed themselves for their pride, believing they had somehow angered the gods. In time, they turned from the gods and became suspicious of their neighbors and travelers through their realm.

Though some of the Marakai are still "handlers" like the rest of their kind, they lack much of the cheerful enthusiasm of Ansalonian kender. What little mischief and fun they delight in, are normally devious pranks and hurtful jokes. The kender band together in family units in their separate valleys, and have been known to occasionally fight amongst themselves. Even murdering a kender from a rival family was not out of the question for a Marakai. Despite the horrid conditions of their land, many Marakai have developed small farms and tend to crops. They normally set a series of cunning traps around their settlements, as a means of protecting themselves against hobgoblins and other intruders.

Thalia was not a stranger to Kender - but she'd never seen any like Braid Lockpick, or the vendor she'd met in Haligoth, Panela Birdsong. Her mind, momentarily drifted to Panela Birdsong - and her heart ached and wondered had the kender survived the attack on Haligoth? Was she on another ship? Had she escaped the city? Kender seemed to be quite keen on survivability and Thalia hoped that Panela had survived. A scream near her snapped her mind back to the matter at hand as she saw someone else harpooned. She quickly grabbed the line and used her claws to cut the person free. The wounded human collapsed with a harpoon still embedded in their body. "We need someone to heal this person!" she screamed. Ketharion slid next to Thalia and began praying for Habbakuk's healing. 

As Ketharion's healing soothed the man's wound, he looked down at the wounded man and said, "I bet we're going to get out of this just fine. Want to wager two steel?"

"You choose now to talk about gambling?" Thalia growled, cutting another Merrow's line that struck the broken mast.

"I'm nervous," Ketharion growled, "It's what I do when I'm nervous!"

At that moment, Tycus came to rush to Ketharion's side as another human is harpooned. Tycus grabs the human, but the human is pulled off over the edge, and pulled beneath the tide. Tycus then looked at the wounded human whom Thalia had saved and said, "I will take him below deck - the other wounded are down there."

As the ship rocked from side to side, Arrigus swore at the gods as he tried to focus on the Merrow who were attacking. Unleashing the necrotic spell, he decimated one of the Merrow as necrotic, purple magic swirled around the Merrow, rotting its gills. "We can't keep this up," he growled to the others over the sound of combat. "I am running out of spells and growing weary. Each spell costs me dearly."

Meanwhile, despite the dire situation, Braid Lockpick was running around the edge of the ship, cutting the rope, harpoon lines as they struck the ship with a dagger he'd found on the ground (until Ronlyn had corrected him that it'd been his dagger that Braid had been using - Braid warned him not to drop the dagger, especially on this ship that had so many holes! It could have fallen into one of the holes and sunk to the bottom of the sea!) Braid was all too happy to return the dagger and felt accomplished that he'd saved his friend's dagger from a rusty fate!

The battle had raged on against the Merrow for nearly an hour and when all was said and done, they'd lost three people overboard. The Merrow's sudden retreat was lost to everyone save for Feroz who was all too familiar with the sea. In the distance he watched a rapidly approaching dark cloud that cast long shadows over the ocean - hard rain - and lightning were slipping the sky - and the listless ship seemed to be drifting directly towards it. If the storm did enough damage, the ship - already in very bad condition - would sink - and the Merrow would have a much easier time of capturing humans already in the water. Feroz cursed, "We have a storm coming. Tie yourself to the mast if you think you might go over. Tycus, keep helping the people down below. Do what you can to keep the water from coming in. Seal the doors below if you can. Board up whatever you can. This will not be pretty."

Zeboim, as the goddess of the storms, the ocean and strife, could tell who was aboard the ship. As the twin to Nuitari, she could tell there was a wizard aboard the ship loyal to the Dark Moon, and she was furious, because among those were several who seemed to be loyal, or whose hearts and minds, were dedicated to Habbakuk, whom above all the other gods, she had hated the most, for she believed she was the sole owner of the depths of the oceans, but Habbakuk called this his home as well. Whether Zeboim had her eye on the ship, was truly unknown - but it had felt very much so; first, her sea children the Merrow and now a violent storm.

As the storm reached the ship, it tossed the ship about as if it were a lion playing with a mouse. The ship was small, insignificant, and broken and tattered, compared to the fury of the storm. The rain pelted those who were above with so much force, that it left welts and small cuts. The lightning split the skies and tore into fragments of the ship - one of those fragments had been a part of the mast, which the lightning cleaved like a mighty axe - and the fragment had fallen and struck Ronlyn across the head, rendering him unconcious. Tharrom clung to the unconscious companion, during the fury of the storm. The wind howled so furiously, one could almost swear, that it was Zeboim's voice screaming at them. Still, after the storm had passed, though the ship had been severely damaged, it was surprisingly still floating, perhaps by the blessing and invisible hands of Habbakuk himself. It had been only a short time after, that schools of fish were swimming all around the ship - and so, those aboard used whatever they could - from mangled nets to pieces of the torn sails to catch as much fish as they could to eat - another of Habbakuk's offerings, it would seem - as a token of forgiveness for what Zeboim had done, some might say.

Ronlyn was taken below deck to be cared for by Tycus, who had been tending to more wounded, who had suffered wounds during the fury of the storm.

At the top of the ship, Braid's voice called out, "I see an island!"

"That's not an island, numbskull," Arrigus Mistborn corrected. "That's another sunken ship, probably sank by the last storm."

As Braid put his hand over his eyes - though there was no sun to block, he'd always just seen this is what people do when they look out into the distance - he nodded in agreement. It appeared to be either the front half or the back half of a ship poking out of the water. There were no survivors on that ship. It seemed to have been another ship that had attempted to escape Haligoth and suffered a worse fate.

Feroz walked to the side and looked out into the ocean. The waters had calmed down, though the skies were still dark as the storm clouds seemed to circle the ship, watching, waiting. "We need some of that wood to fix this ship if we have any hope of staying afloat. I've sailed these seas too many times to count and I know that storm is by far not the last storm to come our way."

"What about the Merrow?" Breara asked.

"I can swim out to the ship since I am not much for ranged," Feroz offered, "and the rest of you keep me safe. You see Merrow or sharks or anything - unleash on them."

"This seems dangerous," Tharrom muttered.

"Us floating in a sinking ship and not trying to get wood to try and repair what we can sounds far more dangerous to me," Feroz commented, then gesturing to the horizon where the darkness lingered, "especially with more storms coming." Feroz climbed overboard and into the water, and almost as if responding to his presence in the water, as soon as he'd been half way between their sinking ship and the ship that had been broken and tattered, the waters grew darker and more turbulent. Gathering the wooden fragments and swimming back to the ship was proving difficult as the tide seemed to pull Feroz further and further away. He cursed his foolishness, for not having tied a rope to himself to anchor against the boat. 

Thalia, though a Tabaxi, and cat-like in appearance, shouted, "He's going to drown out there! I am going out there!" They quickly tied a rope to Thalia as she leapt in the water and awkwardly swam to Feroz, helping him pull some of the wood from the fractured ship back to their own. It'd been just in time as another storm, furious it could not claim Feroz's life, began to rain down. 

"Get the boards below deck! Have those that can work on the ship below deck to begin doing so! If we can keep most of the bottom of the ship from taking in water, we just might survive this," Feroz howled, screaming over the fury of the storm winds that once again circled the ship. Zeboim's fury was channeled into the storm; not only did this ship that should already be depths beneath the sea still float, still did it defy her rage, still did it drive off her Merrow, and still did it have followers of her sworn enemy - her best efforts to destroy and sink the ship were countered, by what seemed to be Habbakuk's hand, as the ship remained afloat, and after the violent storm had passed, other fragments of ships that had met a less kind fate, drifted near their ship so that they could gather more resources.

They'd been out to sea for nearly seven days, working relentlessly to keep the ship afloat, when Braid's voice once again, shouted, "An island!"

Certain that, yet again, it would simply be ship fragments floating in the distance, Arrigus went to the bow of the ship and muttered, "Well, kender, this time you're right. There's an island over there." Using boards as improvised oars, they turned their crushed vessel ever so slowly and made their way towards the island. Feroz glanced at the evening stars and then off to the horizon, then to the sky again. "I believe that's the Schallsea island ahead of us."

Ketharion's elven ears had heard what Feroz's deep voice growled. "Schallsea? Isn't that the island the woman spoke of? Seeing a dragon on it? With a rider?" (See Session 6)

"We will cross that bridge when we get there," Feroz replied as he turned and began walking towards those rowwing. "For now, we need to get off this ship. The island will have food and water. Make no mention of the dragon to the other survivors." He then took his position at the back of the boat, and barked the command for everyone to row, all the while keeping a nervous eye on the island, waiting to see if he would see or even hear, this dragon the woman spoke of.


The Waveblade ship had finally run aground about forty feet out from the island, her bottom scraping along the sand and bringing her journey to a halt. The survivors on the vessel were eager to get off the ship, but Feroz had convinced them to remain aboard the ship. Anyone - or anything - on the island that saw the ship would think nothing more than it was wreckage, and this late into the night, where there were very little stars in the heavens, and the night was dark, it would be too dangerous to explore the island at night. In truth, after what Feroz had witness at Haligoth - if that woman was telling the truth about a blue dragon and a rider, they were safer hiding in the wreckage of the ship than being out in the open on the island, lighting torches like beacons of fallen stars, drawing attention to themselves.

Breara and Ketharion offered to take the first watch, though both were exhausted, as Elves, they had the innate ability to quickly recover from rest, never requiring as much as others. Ketharion took first watch, keeping eye towards the shore to ensure no one - or nothing - came out onto the beach to examine the wreckage beached forty feet away from the shore. However, with Solinari light casting downward, Ketharion caught sight of something glittering on the beach - he strained to look further and could see, it appeared to be a treasure chest, half buried in the sand, as if it had washed up, perhaps from one of the other ships wreckage that they'd seen out in the ocean. He knew better, now, than to go investigate - no matter how appealing more steel in his pocket to gamble with might seem. (See Session 6 when he and Ronlyn abandoned the camp and lost horses)

When Breara woke up to take over watch, Ketharion pointed out the treasure chest seemingly beached on the shore. He pointed out that he doubted there are people on the island - or at least on this side of the island, because someone would have surly collected the treasure by now if there was. Ketharion went below decks to rest and Breara looked over the edge towards the shore, and she too, saw the treasure chest half buried in the sand.

The following morning, Breara and Ketharion confirmed they had seen no people and no dragons. Feroz, Breara, Tharrom, Ketharion, Thalia, Arrigus and Braid all climbed down a rope into the water and swam to shore, telling the others to remain onboard until they could scout the area. As they reached the shore, Ketharion mentioned the treasure chest he'd spotted while on watch, which was still there. Quickly making his way to the chest, eager to put more steel in his pocket to gamble with, once they were out of this mess - he pushed the chest open - only to discover, his hands had been stuck to an ahessive type gel that seemed to cover the entire chest - and despite his best efforts - he could not pull his hands free. Much to his surprise, the chest suddenly developed eyes and teeth.

"It's a mimic!" Braid cried out. "I've heard about them! Eaten many o'kender, from what I hear!"

"Perhaps we shouldn't harm it then," Thalia growled sarcastically, recalling how Braid had thrown one of her javilins at the Merrow - though, admittedly, she couldn't be too angry - he had landed a solid hit - impressive for such a small, scrawny being. 

Feroz quickly leapt into action, drawing his powerful battleax and driving it deep into the mimic, even as Braid was shouting, "Wait! Don't hit it with your weapon, it's going to get -"

"Stuck!" Feroz growled, trying to pull his weapon free of the mimic.

The mimic's massive mouth quickly opened and pulled Ketharion half way into it.

"We're losing him!" Tharrom shouted, as he cast Toll the Dead, uncertain that such a spell would work on such a being - were mimics living things? It would seem so since it required eating...

"It's best to hit it with spells and arrows!" Braid warned.

Thalia grabbed Ketharion by his ankles and pulled, prying him free of the mimic.

Tharrom, who had just cast Guiding Bolt, found that his spell missed the mimic in the chaos and struck Thalia just as she was standing up and brushing herself off, knocking her off of her feet and sending her sprawling back onto the sand. Ketharion who had also just gotten back on his feet, and with elven grace and speed drew his long bow and fired - landing a critical strike into the mimic's gaping mouth. Just as the mimic turned to face him, Feroz brought his axe cleaving down on top of the mimic one more time, and brought an end to the creature's violent life, as ooze seeped out from the mimic's gaping wound.

"That was unpleasant," Ketharion growled, as he wiped off the substance that the mimic had used to trap him, before turning to help Thalia stand once again.

"Wizards have often employed mimics as guardians," Arrigus commented, joining the others. "They, as Braid had said, keep the riff raff away. I suspect this mimic may have been on one of the ships that was struck down by the dragons. Probably a wizard's cargo and found itself floating here to this island, just as we have."

"Where do we go from here?" Tharrom asked, surveying the beach. It stretched north and south as far as he could see, and before them a dense jungle. Mountains peeked over the jungle some distance away.

"As we were coming in, I spotted some huts in the jungle, up in the trees. They looked to be damaged and abandoned, but there may be some things we could use to help survive whatever is on this island," Ketharion said, giving a look of disgust at the slain mimic at his feet. "Do we even know what island we're on?" The Kagonesti elf turned his head to face Feroz Irontide, the massive minotaur, who had a well established reputation sailing the seas.

"We are without a doubt on the western side of the Schallsea Island," Feroz muttered.

"Isn't that the island that the woman told Ronalyn, there was someone riding around on a blue dragon? They saw them from their ship?" Breara asked, rather shocked, and now looking around cautiously.

"The very same," Feroz muttered. "It would seem foul winds and perhaps the hands of the gods have guided us here."

"We should go to the huts," Thalia said, "to see if they have some linen that we can use to repair our sails. And perhaps use some of the damaged lumber to repair our ship. We must be cautious if there is a dragonrider here, that means there are minions about. All too often armies of this 'dragon type' have come to my homeland in Taladas, in their ships, enslaving people. With Ronalyn still recovering from the headwound, below deck, allow me to stealth ahead and see if there's anything we should be cautious of."

Thalia Bloodfang was a tabaxi, a unique race stemming from the continent of Taladas. Created from the Chaos Gem that voyaged through all of Krynn, it sewed chaos, from which it derived its name. Tabaxi evolved from the tigers, leopards, and even domesticated and wild cats, of Taladas forming humanoid bodies and intelligence, developing, initially their own language, before learning that of the Elves and Humans of Taladas. Having grown up in the forest of Taladas known as Neron, west of the island of Baltch, Thalia and her people knew how to move swiftly and quietly through the woods. Carefully moving through the woods, she purposely did everything she could to ensure she broke no branches and made no trail that any other might follow. After a brief moment she dug her claws into a tree and scampered up the tree, easily, for a better vantage. Moving from branch to branch she quickly paused, just before leaping over a small encampment of goblins below her. 

Thalia listened to the goblins, and though Taladas was full of goblin-kin of all kind, she had never learned their language. She could observe their body language and knew, whatever was being discussed, the goblins did not seem to be happy about it. Quietly she turned around and retraced her steps back to the beach, where she immediately gestured the others to be quiet. Though the goblins had been nearly a hundred feet away, that didn't mean they weren't coming this way (perhaps having seen the floating ship that she and the others arrived in) or that there might be other goblins nearby - if there was one thing that was true about goblins, whether on Taladas or Ansalon, where there was one, there was many others.

Thalia pulled the others to the side and whispered, "There are four goblins in the forest, about a hundred feet that way." She looked over her shoulder, listened to the wind, before turning to face her companions and continued, "One of them, slightly larger than the other three is wearing chain mail with a tabard that has a blue dragon on it. I believe that confirms that the person riding the blue dragon is definitely on this island, and this is either a small patrol, to keep an eye, or guards looking for something. The larger one with the blue tabard on, seemed upset. Unfortunately they were speaking in their tongue, I assume, as I was not able to understand what they were saying."

"We need to find out what they're up to," Arrigus muttered from beneath the shadows of his hood.

"I can go over there and introduce myself," Braid offered, but Feroz caught the kender by the collar. 

"You need to stay put," Feroz muttered. "Breara, you stay and watch him. Goblins see you they're not going to react kindly to an elf. Ketharion, you too."

"I have a plan," Ketharion replied. "If we're going to try and trick these goblins, I can take the form of a wolf. From what you told me, goblins try to break the wills of wolves. I found this chain in the sand, probably from the wreckage of one of the ships. When I change into wolf form, put it around my neck." (See Session 01)

"So the plan is Tharrom and I pretend to be mercenaries for the Blue Dragon Army, we have a wolf we need to break. Thalia, scale a tree, keep an eye out," Feroz muttered. "Arrigus, I assume you're with us?"

"A black robed wizard will surly sell the lie," he smiled, coyly. 

"I have an idea as well," Breara smiled. "Indarna, I need you to change your scales." Breara closed her eyes and imagined Indarna with blue glistening scales, and Indarna's form shimmered and her scales lifted and shifted, their colors echoing the colors of the rainbow, before becoming a shimmering blue. "Indarna, go with Feroz, Tharrom, Arrigus and Ketharion."

"Impressive," Arrigus said with admiration. "Clever and deceitful. I didn't know you had it in you, elf."

Breara gave Arrigus a feigned smile and turned back to grab Braid who had begun to follow Feroz. "You need to stay here, Braid."

"But there' going to meet Scallsea Goblins! I've never seen a Scallsea Goblin!" Braid began pulling out parchements. "And I need to map the Scallsea! People rely on my maps!"


At the goblin camp, Feroz kicked over a look and looked over the four goblins who sprang to their feet. Feroz growled, "Who is in charge here?"

The larger goblin, wearing the blue dragon tabard, just as Thalia had described, stood up. "I am. My name is Snarker."

"Well, Snarker," Feroz growled, gesturing for Indarna to come forward, "we have this young, blue hatching, and we were sent to get her trained."

Snarker looked, shocked to see a youngling blue dragon. "Kartilann sent you with a youngling?"

"Yes," Feroz nodded, unsure who Kartilann was, but quickly surmised they were probably the one riding the blue dragon.

"So you must be here to help us find the rebels," Snarker smiled. "Good, good. See," he looked to the other goblins, suddenly pleased with himself. "She knows we're close. We will be the ones who find the rebels and we will be the ones she rewards." Feroz listened with interest - if Kartilann was the Dragon Rider, and if these goblins were talking about that person - it would appear the dragon rider was female.

Tharrom brought the Ketharion in wolf form, "We also heard you're good at breaking the wills of wolves to make them subservant to goblins. We captured this lone wolf in the forest."

Snarker turned, "Garn is an expert wolf trainer. He should be able to break that wolf in a few days."

"We were going to feed it to the dragon-welp, but it would seem finding the rebels would be better training for her," Feroz smiled.

"Which direction are the rebels in?" Tharrom asked.

"That way," Snarker pointed towards the ruined huts in the trees, roughly sixty feet away. "Kartilann made several swipes on her blue dragon and got most of the rebels, but there must still be some. From time to time they will ambush us from the branches and snipe at Kartilann's army with arrows. So she has us coming back around to find them and put an end to them. We can't burn down the woods, which was my idea, because Kartilann wants this island all to herself when the war is over."

"Let's get this done," Tharrom muttered. "Where are these rebels?"

Snarker turned towards Garn. "Give the wolf the cloth we found." Garn grabbed the cloth and approached Ketharion's wolf form, and shoved the cloth all over Ketharion's muzzle; immediately Ketharion caught the scent of the human and could almost see a wispy trail that indicated the direction that the scent had been coming from. He barked and howled and Tharrom nodded to the others as he pulled at the chain. "He has the scent," Tharrom said.

Moving through the jungle, Ketharion in his wolf form, leads Feroz and the others, with the goblins right behind them towards the huts in the trees. From the distance on the ship, it'd looked as if the huts had been damaged over time, by the numerous storms known to come through here, but with what the goblins had said about the blue dragon, it was clear that the damage to the huts was relatively fresh. As Ketharion, in his wolf form, peered up, he suddenly picked up the scent again, very strong and looked up and saw humans hidden in the huts, with their bows drawn - and suddenly realized, in his wolf form, he had no way to speak to his companions.

Ketharion, in his wolf form, nudged Feroz with his nose, and looked upward. Feroz peered up, but the humans had stepped back, and there was nothing to be seen. Feroz looked down at the wolf, wondering what Ketharion was trying to allude to. Realizing that Feroz had not seen the humans, Ketharion simply turned on Garn, the closest goblin to him, and bit deep into the goblin's arm. Feroz wasn't sure what was happening, what made Ketharion turn on the goblins, but then, Feroz needed very little reason to fight - especially fight goblins. He quickly drew his battle-axe with a wide toothy grin.

Feroz quickly brought his battle-axe down on one of the goblins. The goblin, alerted by Garn's scream, managed to avoid the cleaving blade, with only the tip of the blade slicing into the goblin's back. The goblin quickly drew his short sword and lunged forward at Feroz, fearlessly facing the towering minotaur. Tharrom brought his mace down, and smacked the goblin's lunge against the Feroz. Snarker, comprehending that they'd been betrayed began barking commands. However, his voice was cut short as an arrow pierced his throat. Feroz looked up into the trees expecting to see Breara as the one who had launched the arrow, but she was nowhere to be seen. Feroz continued to scan the area when he suddenly saw a human in one of the tattered huts, loading another arrow into her bow.

Garn, with his hand still in Ketharion's wolf mouth, reached into his pouch and drew a small dagger that he plunged between Ketharion's wolf shoulders. Ketharion let out a yelp, releasing Garn's bloody arm. Arrigus then reached into his pouch and blew dust from his hand. As the dust flew from his palms, the tiny specks of sand turned into crystalline blades and struck Garn in the back. The goblin howled with fury and pain and turned to see that even the black robed wizard was fighting on the side of these betrayers!

The third goblin attempted to jump on Feroz's back and claw his eyes out, however, as he scaled Feroz's back, he heard a loud sound - then a sharp pain directly in his spine, and he fell from Feroz's back and looked up in the tree and saw a Qualinesti elf staring back at him as she knocked another arrow - it'd been Breara. The fourth goblin, seeing Snarker dead, Garn bleeding, his companion taken out by a Qualinesti elf, decided that fleeing was the better part of valor. He quickly made his way through the forest, running blindly, and suddenly tripped. He looked up to see what he'd tripped out and it'd been a large stick that had not been there before.

Then he heard, "Hello. My name is Braid. Braid Lockpick. But that won't matter in a moment."

"A kender? Here?" the goblin blurted. However, a moment later, a large figure leaped over Braid, and claws and fangs glistened in the setting sunlight, as the goblin's last vision was that of a female tabaxi leaping over the kender and onto the goblin.

Back at the the tree-huts, Garn had backed up against a tree and was holding his short sword out. "There's nowhere for you to go," Feroz growled.

"Surrender, give us information, and we might just let you live," Tharrom said, his mace gripped tightly in his hand. It was now, that the cloth that Tharrom had used to hide his deity's insignia fell to the side and glistened in the moonlight; it'd been the insignia of Gilean, the god of Knowledge.

"What hope have the lot of you against the Queen of Darkness? Takhisis will consume you, devour you, and your faith, and your gods," Garn laughed. His eyes dashed to the right as he heard the brush move, and Thalia threw down a dead goblin with Braid standing behind her. Breara quietly joined them in the trees, an arrow knocked in her bow.

Garn sneered, "I do not fear you. I fear failing the Dark Queen." With that, Garn lunged forward, only to have Ketharion, still in wolf form, lunge forward, burying his fangs deep into the goblin's throat.

Thalia heard Braid mutter, "Oh, that has got to taste horrible."

Ketharion changed into his true form and looked up towards the huts in the trees. "We are enemies of the goblins." At that, several humans armed with spears and bows and arrows emerged from the damaged huts in the trees. One of them threw down and rope and descended.

"We are the Wemitowuk people," the tall, dark-skinned slender man with long black hair, weather leathers similar to the Plains People. "Our kind once hunted the dragons on this island to extinction and it would seem that the time has come again. A woman riding a blue dragon has brought warships here, three of them, to the far east of the island. They have been harvesting mines and lumber and loading it onto their three warships. The woman dragon rider seeks to rule over the island. Those who did not bow before here, such as us, have been hunted down. She's sent her goblins and other creatures after us and even got desperate enough to use her own blue dragon. We had managed to plant many arrows and spears, but the dragon is mighty. We are all that is left of the rebellion against the woman on the dragon. Perhaps, you could join our cause? I believe you to be the strangers we saw on the derelict ship that came into the bay on the west side of the island. Perhaps if you can help us drive the dragon woman and her army away, we could use the lumber they've taken and given it to you to repair your ship. My people would be happy to assist in the repairs so that you might be on your way. But we can not help until the dragon woman and her warband are taken care of. Would you agree to such an offer?"

"Us, against a dragon," Feroz shook his head. "The ship you saw us drift in was the result of many dragons - many blue dragons. We saw first hand what they can do, the fear they invoke. I agree to this, because I want my revenge."

"What kind of forces are you fighting against on the island?" Tharrom asked, using his foot to nudge one of the slain goblins. "More of this kind?"

"There are indeed goblins present," the Wemitowuk  by the name of Rijeka explained. Rijeka was the chief of his people on this side of the island, and proud to have fought against his oppressors. "But the goblin-ilk are not the only ones. We've seen others - humanoid in nature, but unlike what we have ever seen on the island. They were onboard a ship that came to the Eastern side of the island. It is there that they've built a large fortress and dock, and now harvest wood and metals from the island. Among them walk the fur-ones, we call them." As he went on to describe the tall, furry humanoids that looked to be part man and part bear, Thalia nodded.

"Bugbears," she said, "they are native to my land in Taladas."

"There are also the dragon-men," Rijeka added.

"We have seen them as well," Tharrom nodded. "Draconians, I believe they're called." (See Session 04)

"There are three who seem to be direct generals of the Dragon Highlord," Rijeka said. "They seem to keep the others in line. They follow her command."

"Her?" Ketharion asked.

"The Dragon Highlord," Arrigus answered, knowing. "If there is a Blue Dragon Highlord present, then it must be Kartilann. And that would mean the dragon's name is Khellendros."

"You know her?" Feroz asked, his deep voice resounding like thunder across a deep valley.

"Know of her," Arrigus replied. "Remember, I was in the Dark Queen's army when it first began to gather."

"Still not sure that you're not," Tharrom admitted, staring at Arrigus' flowing black robes.

Arrigus shrugged, uncaring of Tharrom's thoughts. "Kartilann is a fierce warrior woman who originally hailed from the lands of Khur. Early on, when the armies of the Dark Queen were coming together, she rose through the ranks of the Blue Dragonarmy with her mount, Khellendros. Eventually Ariakas recognized Kartilann's achievements by promoting her to the role of Dragon Highlord of the Blue Dragonarmy. Kartilann was assigned to invade and occupy the New Sea region with her forces. Which would explain why she's here. They're not after just the wood and metals on the island, they want the island to ensure it can't be used as resistance. The wood and metals found here are just extra."

"We have no hope against this woman's dragon," Rijeka admitted. "But we might be able to strike down the woman. She routinely patrols the area, seeking us out. Perhaps if we can strike her down, the serpent will flail, and those that follow her will fight amongst each other. We have heard them in our efforts to find those whom they captured - and we've heard how the goblins detest the fur-ones, and the dragon-men believe themselves above all else - but even among their own kind, do they conspire against one another."

"If we take down the woman, we will face the dragon's fury. How do we expect to fight the dragon?" Feroz asked.

"We won't," Arrigus answered. "We will use magic."

"Black Robe," Feroz laughed, "you saw what the dragons did to Haligoth." (See Session 06).

"No magic can stop a dragon," Breara agreed, her mind hearing the terrified screams of that dreadful day in Haligoth.

"We will never be able to get close to the woman," Rijeka agreed. "If we are to strike, it must be from a distance. Arrows can pierce her armor, but it must be with great precision, for much of her armor is greatly protected, but no armor is ever fully protected. We've watched and seen where we could strike, but fear to draw their attention for them to know our plan. We are great hunters, my ancestors once hunted dragon-kind. But that was long ago. We have embraced peace. But war has come to my people and we must rise. There is a tree - we call the High Tree - that we often hide in and observe from higher evaluation, the movements of her army. She often flies by on her dragon, while we remain unseen. We could strike her from there."

"I think I know just the person to try it," Feroz looked at Breara. "She's an expert marksman with her bow."

"If we miss, or if she survives," Rijeka begins, "we will be undone. Her dragon will breathe his mighty breath upon us perched in the branches."

"If Breara's strike is true," Arrigus said, leaning on his wooden staff, "then I may yet have a plan - and magic may yet save us. If Breara strikes Kartilann, even if not fatally, but with enough force to shove her from the dragon, I can use my magic to summon a great fog. If your gods are watching, and the Dark Queen's eyes are turned away elsewhere, then perhaps Kartilann will fall into the fog faster than Khellendros can grab her. The fog will also cover our escape."

"There is a large cave system near the High Tree we could flee to," Rijeka added.

That night, they gathered in the rebel's small camp - only fourteen rebels remained, including Rijeka. He spoke of his people, many of whom had been killed by the Dragon Highlord and her minions - others enslaved to harvest wood, metals - and others, taken away in ships, undoubtedly to be slaves to the Dragon Army, or worse. He spoke of losing his wife to goblin attacks, and how his eldest son died fighting some of the Dragon-Men. The mood was somber and dark, because each of them knew their plan, at best was a desperate one - but they had been whittled down to so few - this would be their last stand, because if they failed, it would not be long before the Dragon Highlord and her minions would finally defeat the rebellion that remained.

The following morning, though Indarna was the spirit of a young golden dragon who died during the Cataclysm, her spiritual form allowed her to manifest and change her scales to mimic any metallic or chromatic dragon. Under Breara's request, Indarna changed her scales to blue, and her breath became that of lightning. Near the High Tree was a small Draconian outpost, and Indarna was used to cause confusion - while Feroz, Tharrmon, Ketharion, Thalia and Braid attacked several of the Draconians at the outpost. The bells and alarms sounded, which is what they had wanted - this would draw the Dragon Highlord's attention here - already, Breara and Rijeka positioned themselves in the High Tree. As the alarm sounded, Arrigus wove the arcane words, clenching a small vail of morning dew in his hands, and from it, rose a dense fog, so thick that visibility was no more than three feet.

A load roar signaled the arrival of Khellendros, his blue wings arcing wide as he glided into view. Perched on his back, on a magnificent saddle and holding the reigns was Kartilann. Breara took aim, and Rijeka, an experienced hunter himself, used his arm to help straighten Breara's quivering arm. The Dragon Fear was easing into her body and shaking her will, but she knew if she did not take this shot, the rebellion would die on this foggy morning.

"Breathe," she heard Rijeka's soft voice whisper.

She drew in a deep breath, her elven eyes focused on the small space between the helmet of the Dragon Highlord and the breast plate. It was a small gap - no bigger than a coconut - and it was a moving target, flying at the speed of Khellendros' speed. She released the arrow and let it fly.

The arrow flew from the High Tree with such speed and grace that Kartilann did not see it before she felt it pierce her trachea. Gasping for air as blood flooded her lungs, she released the reigns and the wind current pulled her from her dragon's back. Before Khellendros had realized what was happening, his Dragon Highlord rider was already falling at a rapid speed. Khellendros tried to quickly turn - but in the cover of these trees, his massive form required flying up to be free of the trees, so he could turn back - and by then, he saw that his rider had already vanished from view, into the mysterious fog that was centered around the massive tree - his dragon ears heard the impact, and the silence of his dragon rider - he knew she'd hit the hard stone floor. She was dead. He had not even seen what struck her, due to the fog - but something had.

Several arrows let loose, and he felt them against his hide, though few pierced his scales - he would need to report back as to what happened - a new Dragon Highlord would need to be appointed among the Blue - and he suspected that Kartilann's first lieutenant, Kitiara Uth Matar, might make the next Blue Dragon Highlord. She was impressive - for a human woman. But she was already bound to Khellendros' daughter, Zephyr.

As Khellendros departed, he could hear the chaos already unfolding on the island - the Draconians and goblins were fighting amongst each other, to see who would take charge... Khellendros believed that the three Draconians that Kartilann had brought with her to the island would soon get control - at least long enough until he could return. 


TO BE CONTINUED.