Warning: some graphic violence
oxoxoxoxoxo
The party descended the steps carefully, trying not to alarm the Black Dragon awaiting in the clearing at the bottom. They had already retrieved the Amulet of Rillifane, the Moon Blade and also two stone instruments, a harp and a horn which hummed softly with magic. The only item they still needed was the Goblet of Life, so they took a descending staircase and walked through a partially burnt down forest until they reached the clearing Demin had mentioned.
A big Black Dragon lay on the shriveled grass in the middle of it, surrounded by the mauled corpses of Elven warriors and priests, lazily picking its teeth with a claw. When it spotted the party, its reptilian face brightened, "Ah, the levethix has sent me more food. Good, I was starting to get hungry".
The Ilmatari stepped forward, eyes glowing golden, "You're welcome to try and eat me, if you are feeling suicidal", she growled, "It will be fun to rip you apart from the inside with my claws". The creature laughed out loud, unimpressed by her threat, "You are amusing, female! But I know that munthreks don't have claws and I doubt those small, pathetic hands of yours could cause me any harm".
She grinned wickedly and the glow intensified, as her body began to change, "Oh, Humans don't have claws, that's true...But the Slayer DOES!", her voice became a roar and she threw herself at the Dragon, her arms fully transformed even as the rest of her was still mostly human, so that the armour would still fit her. Her furious attack caught everyone by surprise, especially her friends, but they were quick to join her in battle with weapons and spells alike, while she savagely hacked and slashed at the enemy with her bare hands…If those horrifying black talons could still be called 'hands', that is.
The Dragon didn't stand idly by, of course and defended itself with all it had, be it claws, wings and of course its acid breath, which fell on the adventurers like a nightmarish rain and left smoking holes whenever it met a bit of unprotected flesh. The fight was harder than they had anticipated, worse even than their battle against Firkraag: despite the weakening spells cast by Edwin and Aerie, the wyrm still had plenty of energy left and its blows were fast.
A talon struck Anomen in the chest, sending him flying several feet away and crushing two of his ribs with the force of the impact. Ignoring the pain, the young man rose unsteadily to his feet, gulped down a healing potion and ran back to the battle, his Flail hissing as it struck the Dragon's tail at the base, opening a long gash in it.
Meg's claws turned out to be sharp enough to tear through the wyrm's scales and she slashed at its side again and again, a cruel grin on her lips, until she was deep into its flesh to the wrists, then she chanted a spell and a chain of lightning sprung from her fingers to ricochet inside its belly. The Dragon let out a screech of agony and recoiled, but after a moment, it recovered enough to spit a globe of acid at her, hitting her square in the face and blinding her as the corrosive fluid began melting her eyes, skin and lips.
Edwin was luckier, or rather, he was quick enough to hide behind a huge tree while reciting the incantation for his trademark spell, a gigantic Fireball cast with surgical precision. While the Painbearer healed herself, the flaming sphere left his extended hands and struck the Dragon right into its open mouth as it was about to spit again.
To everyone's surprise, it turned out that the acid was extremely flammable: as soon as the flames got in contact with the fluid, there was a fatal chemical reaction and the Dragon's head literally exploded from the inside out, blood, bone chips and brain fragments scattering everywhere like disgusting and twisted fireworks. Minsc, who had been about to strike with his enchanted halberd, blinked, "What happened?", he asked, confused. "Eddie made the Dragon go boom", Imoen answered, gagging at the sight before her eyes, "Eeeewww, this is gross!".
"I. Need. A. Bath", the Thayan spelled, looking at the poor state of his robe and he seemed on the verge of tears, "And Meg? Since all of this is your fault, I demand that you buy me a new robe as soon as we are once again in a civilized place! (My beautiful robe, completely and irreversibly ruined!)", he whined. Without warning, a coin purse was tossed at him and he caught it right before it could hit him in the face.
"Buy it yourself, insufferable whiny worm", the Painbearer snarled, "The money in it should suffice". His jaw dropped, "Wh...What did you just call me? (I must be hallucinating. She would never talk to me like that)". "You heard me. And you should be grateful that I don't take you down right now for stealing my kill! I wasn't finished playing with the wyrm!". The party members shared shocked looks at that and Imoen cleared her throat. "Uh, sis...Are you okay? Your eyes are glowing pretty strongly there".
"Shut up, pathetic little bug, you're not worthy of being my sister. You are nothing but a weakling, the blood of Bhaal is wasted on you". The poor girl froze, "Meg...Please, don't talk like that, you sound like...". "Like my brother, yes, I do. He failed, but I will not", Meg's lips curved into a terrifying grin, "I will become the Goddess of Murder and you would do better to just stay clear of my path, all of you, or I'll slaughter you like pigs". Jaheira looked at her for a long moment, eyes pensive, then she quickly walked to her and cuffed her hard on the head, "Stop it, child".
The Ilmatari gaped, "How dare you... ". Another cuff, even harder, "I said stop it! You may fool the others, but did you think I could fall for your act? Me, who've known you for all your life?". Margaret Dawn made as if to speak, then sighed and bowed her head, her arms turning back to normal and the glow in her eyes vanishing, "Sorry. I just thought that, if I managed to convince you that I had gone crazy, maybe you would just give up and take me down. Then you could leave this mess behind and go on with your lives, instead of risking them against Jon...Irenicus".
Anomen smiled and came to stand before her, taking her in a hug despite the blood and gore caked on both of them, "I will never give up on you, my love. I give you my word that we will get your soul back and then, we will travel back to Athkatla and if you want to, we will live there together in my estate, you and I". She nodded, hiding her despair behind a warm smile, "I would like it very much, honey", she said, but inside she was screaming: she had tried to drive them away and she had failed. They would not leave her side until her soul was restored. Only one way to solve this mess, then, she thought, But first things first, "Let's go now, we must summon the avatar of Rillifane".
oxoxoxoxoxo
Levethix = wizard (Draconic)
Munthreks = Humans (Draconic)
