DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: Dawn of Revolution
The Passenger, part 3
Two days after the Summer Spirit's crash, around mid-morning, Momo faced her trickiest and most hazardous task yet. This would not be easy, since she was no expert in such things. It almost made her long for the fight against those blue slaadi instead.
Foraging.
"Hmmmmmm. Maybe not this one, either," Momo muttered to herself as she contemplated up a bright violet tuber plant, eyeing its hair-like growths with skepticism. She was no picky eater, but the Talwyddian forests were famous for having some of everything, from singing carrots and leaping berries to flowers that can make someone envision worlds beyond their own... and then possibly die. Depended on the dosage. Momo wasn't too keen on that.
At least Momo had gathered a handful of darkberries, the marble-sized berries held in one of her string-tied leather bags. Momo had also picked a few megawort mushrooms for some variety, but not before she had to chase a pixie from one of them with a rude usage of her mage hand spell. As for her fellow foragers...
"What about these figs?" Losthar asked at some point, holding up a pair of yellow-green fruit with black speckles on them. "Fresh off the branch."
Momo cocked her head, arms folded over her chest. "I haven't tried those before. Give them a sniff."
Losthar carefully brought a fig to his nose and inhaled. "Smells like... peaches? With a bit of blackberry thrown in. Think I should eat it?"
"Feeling hungry?"
Losthar gently tossed one of the figs up and down in his hand, clearly weighing the odds in his mind. Funny, weren't Toril elves supposed to be good with these things? "I suppose one wouldn't hurt." He opened his mouth to take a bite -
"Not so fast, partner." A smiling Nadeli suddenly emerged from the underbrush, seizing Losthar's wrist with her clawed hand. "Those are uleth figs. You have to slice and boil them first, or you'll spend three days sick! Do you relish the idea of stomach cramps and hives?"
Losthar went pale and lowered the uleth fig. "M... my mistake."
"How did you know?" Momo asked her tiefling teammate.
Nadeli gestured all around her. "Oh, I've been around, my dear Momo. I'm used to living on the fringes and working with what I've got."
Losthar hung his head. "Aside from the figs, I haven't found much."
"I, however, have found plenty," Titanium put in, marching onto the scene with clanking copper plates and creaking wooden flesh. He cradled an armload of fruits and vegetables. "Will this suffice, Momo?"
Momo twirled her staff. "Maybe. Nadeli, why don't you help me look these over?"
"My pleasure." Nadeli reached for Titanium's armload of goodies when a tarantula with blue fur emerged from the fruits, chirping angrily at her like a bird. Then it grew a pair of insectile wings and buzzed off, still chirping as it went.
Nadeli snorted with amusement. "Okay, now is it safe to check the goods, Titanium?"
"I do not believe so," Titanium commented as a freshly picked gourd started growing thorny vines, gripping his left copper arm from wrist to elbow. Then it started creeping upward to his shoulder. "If I were organic, I would be quite terrified by now."
"Allow me." Momo gently tapped her staff to the gourd with her blight spell, shriveling the naughty gourd and its vines in a second. The withered plant fell to the forest floor.
"I confess, foraging is not my strong suit," Titanium admitted. "Though I can carry poisonous and thorny things without worry."
"That's good enough for me," Momo told him. "Don't forget our other reason to be out here: scouting."
Losthar nodded. "Yes, I know. I just haven't seen anything. Wait... forget what I just said."
For a fairy lady suddenly appeared out of thin air before him, giving off a pleasant scent of sweet bread, her wings like a butterfly's, an aura of pink and blue sparkles around her.
"Visitors in the forest!" the fairy cried in delight. "Ah, how romantic."
"I'm not falling for anyone," Losthar said defiantly.
"No, no!" the fairy held up a reprimanding finger. "I mean, the romance of the forest. Adventure! Destiny! Exploring your soul! I haven't met anyone new in so long. I should tell all my friends!"
"Friends? Where?" Momo asked, looking around.
"Right here!" the fairy clapped her hands over her head, and a dozen more fairies suddenly appeared in the vicinity.
"Play games with us! Play! Play!" they cried, swirling around their four larger guests.
Being fey herself, albeit the shadowy kind, Momo knew that playing games was a sort of contract, an agreement between parties, and fey thrived on such things. For them, it was more than winning or losing. It was fighting over pieces of one's soul, their very reality.
What a shame, since it also sounded like fun.
"We don't have time for games. Sorry, fellas," Losthar told them. "We're just picking fruits and... other things. You don't mind, do you?"
"There's time for that later," another fairy told Losthar, hands on her hips as she got right in his face. She snapped her fingers. "Come play with us! Play Branch Chase, Fallen King, Swoop the Swoop, or Undertag!"
"Uh... which one's easiest?"
"No time for that," Momo told the fairies. "We have to get back to the survivors' camp."
"No, play a game! You pick which one!" a fairy man implored her, motioning with his arms.
"Sorry, but no."
"I insist!" the fairy man sat cross-legged on Momo's head. "Or I'll play Crown!"
"How do you play that?"
"I already am!"
Nadeli got out her juggle balls and started tossing them. "How about this? If I can juggle these for thirty seconds without dropping one, we can leave."
"Oh, tricks!" the fairies cried, gathering around Nadeli to watch. "Make it fancy!"
"Right away!" Nadeli added a little tiefling magic and set her juggle balls on fire, with the fairies whopping in delight at the flaming display. Nadeli's seven juggle balls went in a rapid blur, almost melding together into a single flaming ring. Twenty-seven seconds... twenty-eight... twenty-nine...
"Whoopsies!" One of the fairies pointed, and Nadeli's balls morphed into sparrows, flying every which way. "Now you can't go back!"
Nadeli pretended to pout. "Now that wasn't very nice. We had a deal, you know."
"If you reached 30 seconds, we'd let you go," the fairy told her smugly. "But we had no rule about interfering."
"Good thing I used my spare juggle set." Nadeli got out her best juggle balls to try again.
"There's no more time," Momo put in. "We got enough for now. Next, we should resume scouting, and then return to the camp. Nadeli, Titanium, Losthar, let's go."
"You got food? Show us!" the fairies pleaded with her, so Momo opened her leather pouch to show them her collection of darkberries. Bad idea.
"I'm buzzing with excitement!" a male fairy hollered, waving his hand in a scythe-like motion. Momo's darkberries all turned into fat, merry bumblebees that buzzed all through the air, scattering to the trees.
"But... food..." Losthar helplessly watched the berry bees take their leave.
"Oh, this is ridiculous." Momo shooed that fairy off her head, then stalked off to resume the mission. "Team, on me."
A trio of fairies fluttered over, getting all in her face. "Play with us, pretty pale lady!" they insisted.
Momo gestured with her staff. "No."
"Play! Play! Play!" More of the fairies gathered, forming a ring around Momo. So, Momo willed herself to vanish in a puff of dark, smoky magic and reappear a handful of feet away, next to a tree. Ah, the Raven Queen's blessing could be a lifesaver. And now Momo could hear more forest critters rustling through the underbrush to join the party. Would this never end?
"Team, we're leaving," Momo declared, stalking off once again.
The first fairy arced through the air to intercept Momo again, her arms outstretched, a crafty grin on her face. "Hold on, pale lady. We'll let you pick a game, and then -"
Momo was too slow to stop the green dragon that materialized from the brush and swallowed the fairy up in its fanged maw.
"Dragon. A young one," Momo called out over her shoulder. "Get ready, everyone. I know green dragons. It won't leave us alone until we kill it dead."
Already, the youthful dragon was growing hungrily as it fully emerged from the forest's thick vegetation. Its claws dug into the dirt, its wings unfurling, its tail swishing this way and that. The scaly beast hissed, and noxious violet fumes wafted from its mouth. Poison gas. Better stay away from that.
The green dragon roared and charged in for the kill.
Momo was already moving, her staff held tightly in her hands, a few choice spells on the tip of her tongue. What to cast first? She knew that dragons had a tough hide that resisted swords, arrows, and spells alike, but younger dragons weren't quite as tough. Or were they? Let's find out.
Momo took a few steps back, shouted a few words, and pointed her staff's hand right at her scaly foe. Her three magical missiles struck the beast's left shoulder, denting its scales but failing to breach its hide. The dragon snarled and whipped its head around, already exhaling a cone of noxious poison smoke.
Once again, Momo vanished in a puff of dark smoky magic, reappearing at the green dragon's right flank, her heart racing with adrenaline and excitement. This was her first battle against a dragon in months, and she was a bit rusty at it. Her last dragon-fighting group included a reckless dragonborn paladin and a wood elf archer, excellent allies to have against a dragon in its lair. But this would be a little trickier. Should she even ask Titanium, Losthar, and Nadeli to risk their lives against this creature?
"Take it down! Take it down! Go for the kill!" the fairies hollered, flittering this way and that. "Bad beast of the forest!"
"Will you help me?" Momo asked them. "I could use a few decoys here. I need the right angle."
"Scary! Scary!" the fairies yelped, still swirling around in the air as the dragon snapped at them here and there. Hmmmm, th fairies weren't going to follow Momo's orders, but if they still kept the dragon busy...
There!
Momo saw the green dragon lunge for another fairy, its right eye totally exposed from this angle. Wasting no time, Momo aimed her staff and discharged three more force darts, which whooshed right through the air at the exposed orange eyeball.
Two of the darts flashed right past the target. The third bounced harmlessly off the dragon's eyebrow ridge. Curses.
The dragon screeched in anger, turning to face Momo once again, pawing at the ground in anger with more poison smoke leaking from its maw. This wasn't good. At least the Summer Spirit's wreckage had provided a spear to get past a blue slaad's defense. But out here? What was there to do?
"Momo! I'm here!" Titanium cried as he burst out of the underbrush, taking a flying leap at the green dragon as he went. He seized the creature's long neck in his mismatched metal arms, grappling it and forcing its head down. "Strike its eyes to blind it!"
Wasting no time, Momo launched a ghostly, skeletal hand of magic energy at the green dragon, aiming for its exposed eye once again.
Titanium let out a yelp as the dragon flared out its wings, throwing off its warforged foe with a mighty shake of its scaly body. Titanium found himself right against a tree, bouncing off it with a thump before falling into a bush. Momo's spell clawed at the empty air, then dissipated.
Next, the furious green dragon flapped its wings again, creating a powerful blast of air that knocked Momo off her feet for a few precious seconds, sprawled on her back. She threw up a shield spell in desperation as the dragon charged at her with claws and fangs outstretched, but the hulking beast shattered the shield with one touch, its venomous maw about to envelop Momo for good-
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" a familiar female voice roared.
Momo rolled to the side and beheld an outraged Nadeli throwing her flaming juggle balls, which pelted the green dragon from its left flank. And this time, someone actually managed to hit its eye, and the green beast roared as the flaming juggle ball struck its tender eyeball.
Taking her chance, Momo mustered all her strength and swiped her staff's hand through the air, the staff's fingers raking the young green dragon's scaly neck and leaving deep cuts sizzling with foul necrotic energy. This withering staff had been a gift from Yibbgo-Krath some years ago, and this was the seventh time its power had saved Momo's very life. She ought to visit Shadowfell soon and thank Yibbgo again for that. And share some fine batwing tea.
"Does anyone have any ideas? I don't think it's going to back down," Momo told her group as they assembled, with Losthar stepping onto the battlefield right after Nadeli. Momo was back on her feet, ready for more. "Spells aren't working. And none of us are strong enough to kill it with weapons. We don't have a sword or spear."
"There is always a way," Titanium said, getting to his feet and brushing leaves and twigs off his copper body. "Momo, I've got your back. Nadeli, Losthar, let's back her up."
"But how do we take this ugly brute down?" Losthar asked. He brandished a rather fancy hunting knife. "Does it have a weak spot somewhere?"
"It better!" Nadeli cried as the dragon stalked toward its four enemies, wings flared out, another poison breath attack charging up. "Or we're gonna be its lunch!"
"Aim between its clavicles!" a fifth voice cried out. What the...?
Professor Aerun Oldeir came crashing through the underbrush, panting for breath. "I've... whew! Studied dragon anatomy. Its weak point is between its clavicles!"
Nadeli made an impatient noise. "Its what now?"
"Clavicles! The collarbones!" Professor Aerun put his fingers to his own collarbones. "Between that are vulnerable tendons and nerves in chromatic dragon species. A knife or sword should do it!"
Momo gave the professor an approving nod. "It's brave of you to join us, sir. I thought you feared the forest?"
"I heard the dragon roar, and knew you'd need some guidance, Momo," professor Aerun told her, keeping his eyes on the dragon. "I couldn't stand idly by while you risked your lives for everyone's sake!"
"We owe you, professor," Nadeli told him warmly.
"Yes. Now, I must back away..." Professor Aerun did just that, retreating to the edge of the battlefield. Momo didn't blame him one bit.
Losthar, meanwhile, looked down at his knife and back up at the green dragon approaching his team. He went pale. "I... have to get in close to that thing? Alone?"
"You're not alone," Momo reminded him, twirling her staff out of habit. "Losthar, if you want to be a hero, your dragon awaits. We'll give you an opening."
"That's right! You can do it, partner," Nadeli told Losthar brightly, slapping him on the back. She smiled widely. "I can keep it busy, but have you ever seen a juggler slay a dragon?"
"I can wrangle with the beast up close to help you," Titanium added. "That last blow didn't hurt. And poison means nothing to my kind. Trust me the way I trust you, Losthar."
The terrified sun elf paused for a few seconds, then swallowed and declared, "Let's slay us a dragon."
"My thoughts exactly." Momo pointed her staff right at the target and prepared her next spell.
It fired.
The green dragon screeched as Momo's spell assaulted its rage-fueled little brain, frying its synapses and shocking the creature's entire system for a few precious seconds. Right on cue, Titanium leaped toward the dragon and seized its long neck, wrenching the beast's head to the side in case it let out another poison breath attack.
"Losthar! Now!" Nadeli cried, her flaming juggle balls held at the ready, just in case.
Losthar was still pale with terror, but his body still moved all the same. He let out a wild yell and charged right at the green dragon's exposed upper chest, knife held tight in both hands. His blade stabbed right at the dragon's flesh, the blade piercing its scales.
With another, even angrier roar, the green dragon squirmed and whipped its long tail through the air, catching Losthar right in his midriff. The sun elf let out a pained "Oof!" as the sheer force threw him halfway across the battlefield, crashing into a thicket of bushes in a burst of leaves. He dropped his knife, with the weapon vanishing into the underbrush.
"Not good!" Nadeli threw one of her flaming juggle balls as the green dragon started shaking Titanium off its neck. The flaming juggle ball actually went right into the dragon's mouth, and the confused creature let out an alarmed snort of pain. That bought Titanium a few precious seconds to let go, land on his copper feet, and dash to safety before the green dragon could crush him or tear him in half.
"What's the plan now, Momo?" Nadeli asked as the green dragon pumped it wings hard, rising a handful of feet into the air between the sparse trees. The great scaly beast took a deep breath, then exhaled another cone of noxious purple poison.
Once again, Momo dove for cover, as did her allies, but merely dodging attacks would not win them this fight. They had to hit back, but how? Momo could already feel her magical reserves thinning out, and neither Losthar nor Titanium could attack the dragon while it was airborne. And Nadeli's juggle balls could only distract and annoy the dragon, not injure it.
Momo took cover behind a tree, her mind racing as she thought back to the lessons Yibbgo-Krath taught her every time Momo returned to the Plane of Shadow for another lesson. Ropers are ticklish under their eyes... no, that's irrelevant... goblins often attack in multiple of four... no, not that either... there was also the lesson that no one expects the same trick twice in a row...
Momo gave her polished black wooden staff another look, a daring idea crossing her mind. If this went wrong, she would almost be out of magic and options, and if another creature showed up after the dragon, she'd be practically defenseless. This isn't how Momo was supposed to budget her magical reserves!
Not that she had a choice at this rate.
"We're trying the same trick again. On me, everyone," Momo called out as the green dragon grabbed onto a tree with its claws, roaring in defiance the whole time. "I'll strike the first blow. That's the signal to attack. Losthar, did you find your knife?"
"Not yet!" Losthar cried, looking around frantically. "That was my only one."
"Here. Use this," Titanium said. He pried a plate off his right forearm, offering the sharp titanium piece to his teammate. Momo could see a few leather straps and some wood paneling that made up Titanium's flesh under the metal "skin."
Losthar accepted the piece, giving it a funny look. "Think this'll work?"
"It has to. Now, get ready."
Momo thrust out her staff at the pesky green dragon, pumping most of her remaining magical energy into another synaptic attack spell. Like before, the green dragon suddenly grimaced, growling in pain as Momo's spell fried its little brain. The dragon's grip on the tree loosened, and then it let go, landing clumsily onto the ground with a meaty thud. At once, Titanium and Losthar charged at the vulnerable beast.
In clear desperation, the green dragon snapped out its right wing, catching Losthar and flinging him against a tree. Just a second later, the dragon swiped its claws and threw Titanium to the side, carving nasty gashes into his copper chest plating. Momo actually saw sparks fly from the point of contact.
Next, the dragon opened its maw wide, seizing Titanium and biting down. Hard. Momo could hear Titanium's metal and wood body creaking and cracking under the strain.
"Nadeli! Fire!" Titanium hollered in his tinny voice.
Nadeli juggled her remaining burning balls, then expertly tossed two of them toward her imperiled metal friend. Titanium seized both, and crammed them down the green dragon's throat.
At once, the green dragon gurgled in agony, its jaw slackening and dropping Titanium onto the dirt below. That kept it too busy to notice the sun elf charging with his improvised knife held at the ready.
Losthar let out a yell as the blade sank deep into the wound he had inflicted earlier, and this time, he stood his ground. He planted his booted feet firmly into the dirt, bracing himself as he strained to slice a horizontal gash between the green dragon's clavicles, dark red blood oozing from the wound.
It was just like professor Aerun had said. Having its flesh and tendons cut in that particular spot was clearly too much for the dragon, with the beast frantically scrambling back, panting and growling in distress. For good measure, Momo loosed a quartet of magical darts at the dragon, tapping into what little magic she had left, unwilling to leave the job half done.
With a final defiant screech of pain, the green dragon melted back into the thick underbrush, its body making a total racket as it cut a path through the forest, far away from its four assailants.
Momo and her teammates stood guard for a few tense moments, waiting for the green dragon to return, but it was gone for good. In fact, the local wildlife was re-emerging from hiding, confident that the predator was vanquished. Momo had never been more relieved to see squirrels and birds like this.
"You did it! Glory to the big folk!" a tiny voice suddenly cheered. Momo jumped.
"It's you! But I thought the dragon got you!" Nadeli cried as that fairy from earlier flitted from among Momo's teammates. The same one who got swallowed by the green dragon, that is.
The fairy stopped and shrugged. "I was almost a goner. But one of my friends dreamed me back to safety while he was napping. Good thing he always gets so drowsy at this time of day!" She giggled, a trilling sound that reminded Momo of a songbird.
Losthar actually laughed with relief, then winced and held a hand to his aching ribs. "I'm glad you're okay, little one. And wow, we beat a dragon! We're real heroes now!"
The fairy squad sure thought so, because they returned all of Momo's stolen berries, back in fruit form, and they even brought some extra treats on top of that.
"So, I take it we should get back to the crash site and not push our luck here in the forest?" Nadeli asked lightly.
"The forest might be safe for you now. Even safe enough for games," two male fairies said as they brought Losthar his lost knife. "But if you want rest, then yes, back to the airship crash! No rest in the realm of trees!"
"We can never truly let our guard down in the forest," Momo noted to her teammates. "The fairies are right. Let's get back to the camp."
"Right you are," Nadeli said with a warm smile. "And let's not forget the professor."
"Indeed! May I ask for you all to escort me to my tent?" professor Aerun Oldeir said as he rejoined the group. "I took quite the risk just getting here. I've had enough adventure for one day."
"Not a problem, professor. Stay close to me." Momo gestured, and the five of them stuck close together as they returned to the Summer Spirit's crash site intact. The ship's captain was waiting for them there.
"Did I hear a dragon?" the male fairy asked, eyes wide with shock. "What happened in that forest?"
Losthar proudly put his hands on his hips. "We won, that's what."
"In true style," Titanium added.
"We'll be safe for now," Nadeli put in.
"I need a rest. My magic's low," Momo commented simply. "Call for me, everyone, if you need me." With that, she returned to her tent for some much-needed rest. Ah, that's better.
It wasn't until the next day when a rescue airship arrived, a four-propeller model that gently touched down and lowered its boarding ramp to admit every passenger and crew member of the Summer Spirit. Momo wasn't yet sure where this new airship would take her, but if it was far away from forest critters, good enough for now.
"Momo," a metallic, slightly hollow voice said. The shadar-kai turned to face Titanium, who saluted her like a knight. "I must thank you for believing in me. Your actions made your implicit trust in my skills clear, and I cannot thank you enough for that. I am inspired to work twice as hard in my future endeavors. I will not forget this."
Momo saluted back. "Good to hear, Titanium. This may be slightly premature, since we have another flight ahead of us, but: may the road ahead be kind to you."
Titanium nodded once, then marched past Momo up the airship's boarding ramp.
Next came Losthar, who offered a hand. Momo shook it.
"I was lost for so long. I felt like I was standing in the bottom of a dark pit," Losthar admitted. "But after fighting with you, Momo, I'm ready for another shot at this thing called life. I won't back down!"
"Excellent. Be well, Losthar," Momo told him, and the sun elf happily ascended the boarding ramp.
Professor Aerun Oldeir gave Momo a friendly wave as he passed her up the ramp, but Nadeli was a different story. The tiefling juggler didn't just say hi or salute; she wrapped Momo in a tight hug, nuzzling the shadar-kai with her warm cheek.
"This is rather silly," Momo commented plainly. The people of Shadowfell didn't really do hugs.
"I know, my dear Momo. But I can't help it," Nadeli told her fondly. "I've met so many people, but none of them stand out to me like you do. I wish our lives didn't have to part so soon. Once we arrive at Nasrond, that's it. I can't believe it."
"I'm thankful for your aid, Nadeli. You can remember me for that," Momo told her. "And your juggling is most impressive." Which it certainly was; Momo was no flatterer.
"Aw, thanks, Momo," Nadeli said, still hugging tight. Oof. "You're a true friend to me, Momo, not just my team leader. Am I your friend, too?"
"Hmmmmmm. Well..." Momo hesitated. She barely knew what real friendship was, aside from her bond with Yibbgo-Krath, her favorite person on the Plane of Shadow. She and Yibbgo understood one another, making them the perfect duo when pranking obnoxious corpse traders in Evernight or probing old caves for treasure, scaring off shades and bodaks as they went. Momo had never met anyone else on Shadowfell, Toril, or the Feywild who made her feel quite like that.
Still...
"Perhaps one day, we might call ourselves friends. If our paths cross again," Momo compromised. If Nadeli managed to join another team of Momo's, then that meant they definitely had an unusually strong bond worthy of respect. "Be well, and may the road ahead be kind to you, Nadeli."
The tiefling let her go, gave her one more fond look, then bid her farewell and went up the ramp. Momo was the last survivor to climb the ramp as well, getting lost in the crowd of passengers aboard the smaller vessel. Everyone was too tired and relieved to talk much, which suited Momo just fine. She found a corner in which to sit cross-legged, her staff lying across her lap as she began another meditative trance to pass the time.
As the airship rumbled to life and lifted off, Momo finally remembered some of the most important words Yibbgo-Krath had shared with her recently. While kindness was a rare thing on Shadowfell and worlds like it, it turned out the strength of kindness and friendship was not to be underestimated. Not ever.
Who knew?