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PoesJournalEntrySeventeen
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Well, Alia perhaps things are really starting to turn around. I’m sitting here in a rebuilt dwarven citadel – the Grim Watcher they call it – surrounded by the hustle and bustle of hundreds, maybe even thousands of dwarves. All of them have a light in their eyes unlike anything I’ve seen before. I imagine it must be the same light that shines from the crystal nestled among the black pearls of my prayer beads. Hope. Frack, but it’s been a long time coming.
I guess I should have figured something was different when our dwarf agreed to swear a blood oath to defend the dwarven temple – and risk being cursed if he allowed the temple to be defiled. Of course, swearing the oath and lighting the brazier did give the heroes access to the dwarven forge. And a frack-load of treasure. Heh. I shouldn’t complain though. A suit of plate from that lode saved my ass during the battle against the dragon. Diamond they said her name was. After listening to the last dwarven soul regale us with how Diamond had dispatched the dwarven heroes sent to retake the mountain our victory to secure the forge seemed less impressive. One thing about these heroes though – when they get their mind to something they don’t ever back down. Especially if there’s a dragon’s horde at stake. Heh.
So it was that mere hours later we entered the dragon’s lair. There were three entrances to Diamond’s home, individual platforms a good 10 of 15 feet above the main floor of the huge cavern that was once the heart of the dwarven fortress. Sunlight from outside reflected off the clear ice walls. It was blindingly bright after having spent the last few days in torchlit gloom. My eyes adjusted quickly and though and I surveyed the room. Mist obscured most of the floor. What I could make out appeared to be ice, embedded with sharp, white shards of bones. Diamond apparently wasn’t the cleanly sort. Heh.
At the far side of the cavern, in a raised area, lay Diamond. She was as big as advertised. And as white. And, asleep. I whispered a prayer of thanks to the Queen. She’d apparently decided to smile on us today. About frackin’ time, I added under my breath. If the dwarven spirit was right, we’d need all the help we could get.
I’d spoken too soo though. As Guss and I carefully descended to the cavern floor, Diamond rose from her slumber. She stretched like a cat and disappeared. Frack. Kleister lept from the ledge behind me, somersaulted through the air over my head and landed nimbly. Somehow he managed not to impale himself on the jagged end of what was probably once the thigh bone of a horse. Kleister’s spear thrummed in anticipation. My prayer beads froze around my wrist. Kleister caught his breath. His head whipped around and he caught my gaze. I shrugged and pointed towards where Diamond had been. He nodded, tipped his spear at me and started off across the cavern floor. As he advanced, I heard chattering from above. Frack. More frackin’ kobolds. I couldn’t tell exactly where the little frackers were yet, but if they had missle weapons the mist filled cavern would be a killing field. Just like the dwarf had said. Of course, the dwarves didn’t have Ron. Heh.
Ron’s opened by conjuring poisonous green fog to give us cover. As it billowed out of the ground, the mist covering the cavern floor writhed and crackled with blue energy. The energy coalesced into a sparking energy ball. Arcs of energy shot back at us. I tried to dodge, but the energy flowed through the mist. As it hit, waves of nausea washed over me. It was as if I was standing within the green fog of Ron’s spell (trust me, I know the feeling). IF this kept up Ron would kill us before the dragon even got in a breath, I wasn’t the only one worried about this. Beros launched several arrows at the energy ball. Each shot scattered bits of energy off of it. It could be hurt. OK, we had a shot. I grinned and started forward after Kleister.
With my first step I nearly tripped over a ghoul. It rose out of the mist right in front of me. A second ghoul clawed at my arm, pulling me around. And then the kobolds struck. Ice balls began raining down from above. The frackin’ kobolds had slings. I ignored them. There were undead about. I drove the Queen’s blade through the chest of the nearest ghoul. Guss cut another down and Sunny blasted a third into oblivian.
I heard Ron calling out the words to another spell and magical bolts of force flew from the entryway where he stood. He targeted the ball of energy, too. It exploded in a flash of light. Score one for the heroes. There was little time for celebrating though as Diamond appeared out of nowhere. She swooped down at Beros swiping at him with her massive claws. The elf threw himself to the ground and managed to avoid being grabbed. I swung around, looking for a chance to strike at her. As I watched Diamond became indistinct and blurry and I couldn’t get a good read on where exactly she was. Kleister could though. With a loud battle cry, he charged and plunged his spear into Diamond’s chest. Blue blood splashed across his armor, hissing and crackling into frozen droplets as it scattered to the ground. Beros and Kobe followed Kleister’s example, Beros putting one arrow into the creature’s neck and a second into its leg and Kobe tossing a dagger into the dragon’s ample gut.
The crystal prayer bead on my wrist flared with light. You were with me Alia…and I used that power on Diamond. The beast hissed and shook it off. Frack. The heroes converged on her though, hoping for a quick kill. Ron casually flicked some more magical bolts. This time he took down a kobold. The little fracker fell screaming from the alcove where he’d been taking potshots at us. I grinned and moved to engage Diamond directly. Let’s just say I got my wish. Her huge scaly claw grabbed me and jerked me off my feet. In seconds I was airborne, being crushed in her icy grip. Diamond quickly winged higher into the air. I swung my sword but couldn’t get a good angle to strike her with any force. I didn’t dare try to pry myself loose, for fear of dropping my blade…from this height and with the mist covering the floor below the weapon would be gone for good. Diamond made the decision for me. She dropped me right over Ron’s poison cloud. I plummetted to the ground. Frack, frack, frack. Luckily, I didn’t land right on any of the sharper bones. My new armor seemed to cushion a lot of the blow. I dragged myself to my feet and stumbled out of the cloud, trying not to inhale too deeply. A hail of ice balls greeted me. Frack you, too kobold scum…
The heroes were about 50 feet away, killing ghouls and kobolds. Even Ron had descended to the floor of the cavern. The dragon apparently had disappeared again. I scanned the area and moved to rejoin the heroes. No sign of Diamond. Guss and Sunny made short work of a few more ghouls. Beros began picking off kobolds. Even our dwarf began moving forward. Then Diamond reappeared. Directly above Ron. She roared and breathed a frigid blast of air. Ron dove into the bleached skull of some impossibly large creature. When the frosty breath cleared he poked his head out…apparently unscathed. Sunny ran forward, shimmered and seemed to transform into a silvery, mercurial liquid. She hurled magic at Diamond, drawing the beast’s attention away from Ron. Ron siezed the opening Sunny had given him and cast another spell. He froze Diamond in place and then engulfed her in a wall of fire. Diamond roared again. This time in pain. She also breathed again. This breath caught Sunny, our dwarf, and Ron. Amazingly, the dragon then waved her claw and fired magical bolts at Ron. Guss and Kleister came to Ron’s defense. I wasn’t far behind. Sunny cast another spell behind us and Diamond thrashed, held again in the midst of the wall of fire. Our dwarf moved in and smacked the beast across the flank. Diamond spun, and roared. This roar was deafening and Guss, our dwarf and Sunny were stunned. Ron escaped again however and called forth a blizzard around Diamond. Kleister charged directly into the teeth of the gale. He struck another telling blow with his spear. Inspired, I followed him in, grunting as the dragon’s claw caught Kleister across the chest. Diamond breathed yet again and frigid cold enveloped me. Nothing I wasn’t used to…being a paladin of the Queen of Winter has its perks. Heh.
Kleister healed me then plunged through the wall of fire to take another shot at Diamond. Beros loosed an arrow that flew true – straight into Diamond’s left eye. I realized I hadn’t seen Kobe for a while. Frack. I hoped the little fellow was Ok, but I didn’t have time to track him down. I followed the sound of Kleister’s voice through the mayhem. He struck Diamond yet again with his spear and spun her around, exposing her flank to the rest of us. We all took our shots on her and Guss even managed to pull her to the ground. Diamond whirled around, her good eye widening in desparation, and breathed on us again. I think she’d just realized that this was going to be her end. Death smiles at us all, even ancient white dragons. She decided not to smile back. Heh. With a move that was impossibly quick for a creature her size, Diamond snatched Guss and launched herself into the air. Frack. I took off in pursuit, but she gained altitude fast and the best I could do was stay beneath them and shout encouragment to Guss. In seconds she’d be out the large opening in the cavern wall and outside the mountain. Double frack. Arrows flew past me, scoring hits in Diamond’s back. She roared in pain, but kept going and kept her hold on Guss. Guss struggled, but couldn’t break her grip. Sunny shouted from behind me and blackness exploded around Diamond’s head. She lurched suddenly to the side and then went limp in the air above me…uh oh. Guss yelled at me and I tried to jump aside. Ever try to jump in plate armor? Yeah. It hurt, but I’m nothing if not tough. Ok, it was mostly her tail that hit me. Guss fared just as well. The dragon’s corpse twisted as it fell, so he ended up landing on top. He hopped down, dusted himself off and pulled me out from under her tail. The heroes gathered around to survery their latest handiwork. One less dragon in the world. Heh.
I will say that it really didn’t seem like a turning point at the time. But the Queen works in strange ways. I’ve heard now that even the humans are becoming bolder throughout the land. Rebelling against the orcs. It makes me smile, thinking of the Raven, somewhere out there killing orcs. It’s a good thing. The heroes are basking in their hard won glory. They deserve to enjoy it. For now. The Queen’s not done with them yet I’m afraid. Until she is and I am free of Her machinations, free to return to you Alia, I’ll be at their sides to see that Her will is done.
Poe.
