Here be Dragons!
Chapter 17
It is now 13 years later.
Today was a really big day for the entire family and it was going to change all of their lives forever. They were headed for a town that Rick had gone to years ago. They needed to build an addition and that required that they acquire another ring of 3 wishes. To do that Rick had listened to some of the merchants and hired a ship to take him to a city called Calimport with was the capital city of Calimshan.
Rick thought Kate would have loved it. It was 2,000,000 strong and was huge compared to their little city of 12,000.
Calimport was divided up into wards. One of those wards happened to be a Wizard Ward. As a result one of the guilds had the ring they needed. It was a three day trip to Calimport since it was amazingly close, something Rick had known nothing about.
Today the entire family was going to Calimport to buy a lot of magical items. A whole lot of magical items.
Alexis was following her father. As she grew older she became more and more a daddy's girl and she was having Rick teach her all he knew about being a Ranger.
Addison, they'd found, was a Sorcerer. She had a great deal of magic inside her and was learning a little very slowly. This trip was to help her figure out just how much power she had and what spells were available to her.
Aiden had grown up with their Shrine in the city that he had found out his dad had put together. It was just that the Temple to Sune was still the largest and he wanted to fix that. So he wanted to be a Cleric to Bahamut. He'd already started praying to Bahamut and had been rewarded with a few spells.
What they all needed was a lot of equipment for what they wanted to be and Rick and Kate were willing to spend as much of their remaining gold they as it took them to give their children a head start.
The final reason to go to Calimport was because Rick wanted to call for a new companion. Dog had died last year and had lived 13 years. It was hard to tell who was hurt the most by his death of old age. Kate was betting Rick. Dog was his best buddy before Kate had even met him. However, their children had not taken his loss well any better than Kate had. Rick wanted another Blink dog since Dog had been an amazing companion. The best place to have one come to him was there instead of their little city.
Rick came out of his bedroom wearing his all of his combat gear. "Looking good, Dad."
"Thank you." Rick bowed a little. "Keep in mind yours won't look like this. You're not a Vassal of Bahamut yet."
"I know, Dad, but I will be." Alexis desired so much to be a Vassal of her God.
Then Kate came out and Addison had power inside her that she just needed a little guidance with. She did love the colors of what her mother was wearing.
Kate felt a little left out. Alexis was following her father but no one was following her into being a Monk. Still they were all dedicated to Bahamut and maybe some day they would have a Temple to Bahamut.
They just needed Aiden to come out of his room. Their home had been remodeled enough to allow access to each pod from the living room.
They'd left the existing deck all the way around the house then added a third pod and built an enclosure from the living room, across the existing deck over to the new pod that was Aiden's new bedroom.
"AIDEN!" Kate yelled.
"I'm coming," he yelled back then showed up.
Addison and Aiden might be twins but they had a few things that didn't make them look like twins. Except for the overall body shape and red hair. Really red hair. Alexis still had her orange hair and she liked it really long.
Alexis had more in common with her mom than her dad. She was dedicated and fearless and save for the color of her hair, looked a lot like her mother.
They had all learned that everyone was a shifter and they were all Dragons. Kate had gotten a partial victory.
Alexis was an Emerald Gem dragon. Her scales were many shades of green with a scintillating appearance that made the Dragon seem to be in constant motion. They had learned her breath weapon was a massive cone of swift wind that mimicked a tornado.
Addison was a Lung Wang. She looked similar to the Dragon Turtle that was still guarding the bay since she was still gaining tribute to keep the bay clear. She was a large shell covered in thick green scales spotted with silver scales. Covering her neck and head were smaller, lighter green scales spotted with golden scales. Her front legs were large flippers, usually 80% of the length of her shell, and each had two extremely sharp talons at the end. Her breath weapon was a massively sized volume of steam, 100 feet long by 50 feet wide.
Aiden was where Kate got her victory. He was a Gold Dragon just like his parents.
Alexis was presently a young adult while the twins were still juveniles. Rick and Kate were now considered Old.
"Let's get moving. Our ship into town is probably already here." Rick looked at Aiden who had delayed them.
"Horses?" Alexis asked again just to make sure.
"Already in the city and being tended to while we are gone. They have a lot of our hay, the magical oat feeding bags, and instructions. They'll be fine. Hopefully this will be fast," Kate answered and soon everyone was headed for their City then a much larger ship for their trip.
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The captain had found room for them but it was tight. There were two hammocks and three mattresses on the floor. The mattresses were side by side and only Rick and Kate had magical sleeping bags.
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Three days later it was going to be dark soon and their children were almost running to get off the ship. Rick and Kate grinned. Rick took them to the inn he'd used last time and got two rooms. The rooms were large enough that the kids weren't sleeping side by side at least but they were used to getting along together. It was just Alexis and Addison had a little trouble stripping and getting ready for bed with Aiden in the same room.
It also had food so they ate before going to bed and heading out the next day.
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Again everyone was following Rick since he'd been here already. Now it was time to go shopping.
Alexis the Ranger - The snake man they had learned was called a Yuan-Ti and he had Bracers of Archery - Lesser. Mithral Elven Chain 4,150 gold. Lion's Shield 9,170 gold. Sylvan Scimitar 47, 315 gold, Ring of Chameleon Power 12,700 gold, Bag of holding 2,500 gold, Quiver of Ehlona 1,800 gold, Heward's Handy Haversack Backpack 2,000 gold. Standard Bow.
Addison the Sorcerer - Bracers of Armor +4 16,000 gold, Ring of Protection +3 18,000 gold, Wand of Web 4,000 gold, Wand of Lightning Bolt 18,000 gold, Wand of Knock 4,500 gold, Bag of Holding 2,500 gold, Heward's Handy Haversack Backpack 2,000 gold, Cape of the Mountbank 10,080 gold, Staff of Fire 18,500 gold. Dagger of Venom 8,302 gold.
Aiden the Cleric - Mace of Terror 38,552 gold, Celestial Armor 22,400 gold, Bag of Holding 2,500 gold, Heward's Handy Haversack Backpack 2,000 gold, Staff of Healing 27,750 gold.
Everyone got potions of Water Breathing, Swimming, Remove Poison, Remove Disease, Fly and Invisibility. They had one of each plus a Bandolier to hold them as a present from their parents.
Rick and Kate got hugged tightly three times and told thank you. It made both of them proud of their children.
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It took them three days to get all of the magic items and now they were a few miles outside of the city into the Calim Desert where they set up the tent.
"No magic sleeping bags?" Aiden questioned as they set up the tent which went really fast they found out and blended into the desert effortlessly.
"We can go back and you three can spend your own money on anything you want," Kate replied. They'd done all they were going to do for them save for when they came home hurt or something else they just had to do to protect their children.
Since a Magic Sleeping Bag was only 1,000 gold and each of them had more than that they each bought one when they were back in town.
Each still had roughly 3,000 gold to purchase anything they themselves wanted. Addison chose to purchase a Necklace of Fireballs at 2,700 gold. It had 5 little red balls.
Alexis chose Boots of Elvenkind at 2,000 gold that increased her ability to move silently.
Aiden chose Cloak of Elvenkind at 2,000 gold. Wrapped around himself it increased his ability to hide.
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Rick and Kate slept in their magic sleeping bags inside their magical tent. The kids slept on their non-magical sleeping bags inside their parents magical tent.
That evening and come morning they got a first hand view of what it took to live outside of their home and a city. They watched their mom cook on an open fire using food that was still fresh inside magic bags.
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It was lunch and everyone was standing a little behind Rick as he officially called for his new animal companion. He knew what he wanted and that was what he called for.
Six hours later and Rick was now sitting and waiting. His three children, especially Alexis, were right behind him and still waiting. Two more hours later and Kate left them to go start work on dinner. She was just starting to open her fresh bags to see what was left.
Alexis yelled for her mom since she'd seen what her dad had clearly seen. Alexis even motioned for her brother and sister to not move and not make a sound.
Rick watched and just like last time, this little puppy of a Blink Dog was slowly and timidly approaching him with his tail tucked between his legs. However just like last time Rick had some fresh meat in his hands waiting for him.
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She was playing with Rick's hands and was starting to warm up to having so many people around her. "She's so cute! Just look at those eyes!" Alexis was in love and couldn't wait for her to have a companion. She just didn't know what she wanted yet. However, she had time to decide. Much like Addison, she could summon a familiar and she hadn't decided if she even wanted one or what it should be.
"A she? She's cute, babe. What's her name?" They all needed to start using it so she could learn it.
Rick hadn't really been expecting a female so he wasn't fully prepared. "Lulu?" he said since he couldn't name her Dog like last time.
Lulu didn't seem to mind when she figured out she had five people all itching to hold her and pet her. She wasn't alone any longer and all of them had something for her to eat. While Rick was glad to have her, his heart still ached, missing Dog.
Once they got closer to the city Rick carried Lulu since being in the city could be scary for her. They needed to go find what it took to get their hands on a number of lower power spells so Addison could finally select what spells she wanted to permanently know. Since once she selected them she could never change them.
She ended up selecting them by their name then her parents paid for them so she could learn how to pull them from her body. Buying all of them was far too expensive of an option.
Shield - Invisible shield gives +2 bonus to armor class and blocks Magic Missile.
Mage Armor - Gives a +4 bonus to armor class.
Identify - Determine what a magic item is and does.
Comprehend Languages - Understand all spoken and written languages.
Ray of Enfeeblement - Target loses half his strength. Increases the stronger you get.
Magic Missile - Glowing stars always hit target. More stars the stronger you are.
Glitter Dust - Will outline an invisible object or creature.
Web - 20 foot radius of strong sticky spider webs.
See Invisibility - What it says, see items or creatures that are invisible.
Scorching Ray - Ray of fire that gets stronger as you get stronger.
Rope Trick - Use rope to reach an extra dimensional space to hide up to 8 people.
Mirror Image - Creates illusion of duplicates of you.
Right now she could only do the first six though when she was stronger she could cast the other six. After that there were 7 more levels of spells that got stronger and more complex to cast as well as exponentially expensive. Those were for much later and a few were ungodly expensive.
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With everyone happy now they had to wait 3 days for a their ship to be ready to go back home. They were transporting a large load of cargo to their home.
Lulu was content to just look around and blink back to Rick when anything or anyone suddenly scared her. Which for her was a lot of things. She was brave enough to go look and chicken enough to go back where it was safe. If she couldn't see Rick she went to one of the others until she could.
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The kids had never seen their city from the deck of a ship before. Even way out here it was really colorful. They'd actually hated Calimport mostly because it was dirty, smelled dirty, and was filled with people seemingly everywhere. Kate may have loved it, however, the rest of her family didn't feel the same. They were happy to be back in their little city.
Kate was the first of them off and no sooner than she had set foot on the dock than a council member was there waiting for her.
"Thank the Gods. We need your help." Everyone in town, including the Priests of Sune knew the Rodgers were the two strongest members of this city. Besides also being the richest. Seeing their teenage children all dressed mostly in armor suggested their family may actually be even more powerful now.
All five of them listened to what had happened while they'd been gone. It may have been a bad time for them to be missing though even if they had been here they could not have prevented it. They would still have been too far away. Given that the kids now all had magic weapons and armor maybe their being away was a blessing in disguise.
"One of the miners of the jade mine went back to the mine after taking the weekend off to be with his family. What he found…." He shook his head. The town had gathered volunteers and priests of Sune to go retrieve the bodies then examine them.
"There were 11 miners there at the time. Most died from wounds caused by a sword. But two appeared to have been bitten. Two large holes semi close together could be found. The venom appears to have stopped their hearts. The Priests of Sune are working on an anti-venom but they fear it will take weeks. What they really need is a sample of the actual venom," the council member explained.
"Yuan-ti," Rick said as a possible answer to the attack.
"We believe so. There must be a nest of them somewhere. The city is offering your family 12,000 in gold if you will find this nest and eliminate it. We need that mine to be reopened and safe. Jade is one of our best selling export. The owner of the mine is offering you one quarter of all the jade they have mined and is actually still at the mine. The Jewelry Market will offer you a considerable discount to turn that Jade into anything you want.
"We need your help. We lose that jade and the city will be in trouble." He was honest but blunt. People could be forced to leave and go to another city for work.
"We just need to buy food and we can get started." Rick saw no reason he and Kate needed to go home first. In truth he would have done it practically for free. This was his city and no one messed with his city. He was already thinking of actually accepting considerably less when they succeeded.
"It's yours, take what you need. Just find that nest." If they didn't have these two, the city would be forced to spend even more on adventurers who might not succeed at all.
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"You three know the way home. Your father and I just need to buy some fresh food and a couple weeks of trail rations and– " Kate was interrupted.
"We're going with you," Aiden informed his parents.
Alexis waved her hand. "This is our home, too. We have what we need to help and we're going to help. You can either take us with you or I can track you all the way there and follow you."
Addison joined in. "What she said. We're Rodgers and no one messes with our little city. I'll bet each of us even knows the names of those miners. We're going."
Kate felt tears form. Her babies were all growing up. She turned to look at her husband. They were the ones that had all the experience. They were best prepared for what they would find. But everyone had to start somewhere. At least if their children came with them they could protect them.
Rick laid down the letter of the law. "You do what we tell you when we tell you. You do not go anywhere alone. In fact if you three ever leave each other and you live through this you're all grounded for a month. Do I make myself clear?"
Actually all three of them had never seen him like this before. He literally was the cool dad. Yes, he'd grounded them before when they were little and being difficult, but never anything like this.
"This isn't a game. We don't know what we're going to find. Please don't do something that will break our hearts." Kate begged them and agreed with her husband.
"We understand and we're still going." Alexis spoke for her younger brother and sister who quickly nodded their heads.
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Rick and Kate had to admit that the trip to the mine so they could inspect the area themselves felt good and worrisome at the same time. How to protect their children without being overbearing and dominating wouldn't be easy. Wow was this ever going to be a test!
They were both secure in each other's skills and knew pretty much just what the other could do. That months long trip to deliver that Green Star metal had shown them a lot.
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Kate had Addison and Aiden at the mine itself while Rick had Alexis just outside at the border. "What do you see, besides the obvious?" Rick was in teaching mode with Lulu sniffing everything. This place was full of new smells.
"Tracks, wheeled. No attempt at hiding them. Almost no footprints," Alexis started off with.
"What made them?" Rick asked, still in teaching mode since she was right so far.
Alexis was down on the ground and felt them with her fingers. "Wide and deep. Just the two of them. A two wheeled cart, I'd say. Maybe filled with jade from the mine? So much for part of our payment." If they had stolen it all there wasn't going to be any for the mine to pay them with.
Rick ignored the payment comment even if she was right. "How old and what's pulling it?" Now came the difficult part.
That had Alexis playing with the dirt, leaves, and twigs. "Two days, maybe three?"
"More like just over three." Rick didn't need to be down on the ground to tell that, but she was close enough. "So what's pulling it." He knew even if the answer was difficult to swallow.
That had Alexis looking again. She recognized the tracks. It was just that the size was impossible until she remembered who they were thinking had attacked this place. She and her brother and sister had never actually seen the body her dad had killed. They'd only ever heard stories.
"A Yuan-ti is actually this big?" Alexis questioned him and looked down again just to make sure.
"Just over 12 feet from the top of its head to the tip of its tail. No legs, arms like a man with a snake's head and body. It had a bow and arrows and the bracers you're wearing," Rick confirmed.
Alexis wasn't grossed out that she was wearing its bracers. They were clean now and she stood back up and looked the way it had gone. "Easy enough to follow."
"And?" Rick was still teaching and a little impressed. She'd been listening and was a good student.
"Heavy and slow being towed by one snake like a Yuan-ti. If they want to keep the jade I would have guards around it and behind it. We could possibly catch up depending on just how far they have to go. We could run head first into a rear guard, though. Tracks in and tracks out. They only stayed a few hours." Alexis looked at her dad.
"Very good! You're learning. We'll make a Ranger out of you yet. Go get the others. We need to follow them before it rains which it does a lot of out here and washes all this away," Rick asked her.
Alexis ran and smiled all the way. It actually felt good to be doing it for real instead of a made-up test for her by her father. And a little exciting.