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In the process of all this adventuring, you have acquired a number of treasures, including…

>A fine elven sword and bow (though you’re running quite low on the alchemical ingredients to maintain their leafweave components)
>A sometimes-luminescent ancient drow-scimitar hewn of a mysterious white material
>Gaudy ceremonial armour, perfect for intimidating adversaries
>A somewhat rudimentary )but effective) assassin’s dagger
>A potion of diminution, to shrink you down when size is no longer an asset
>A pair of magic rings—one to protect you with a magical shield, one to command the elements
>A magical necklace and cloak, exact enchantments yet unknown
>A scroll case
>A jewelry box…

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>>5307141
In that jewelry box lurks the demon which damned the kobolds to their unfortunate encounter… With you. It dwells within an accursed ring, hewn of many interlaced strips of black metal, with a green gem like an ever-watching, ever envious eye. You worship Dark Gods, it is true, but this lesser darkness has undermined your lords temporal and spiritual, and you have resolved to destroy it. It is to this end, at least in part, that you now journey into dark and forgotten places in the bowels of the Bloodrise Mountains, seeking the long-lost treasures of reptilekind. In that ancient place, uncovered by kobolds who dug too deep, there lies the secret to destroying the demon…

(And, even more importantly, it is in this stones-swallowed sepulchre that you have good reason to believe there is a clutch of long-lost, pure-blooded dragon eggs, though their current status is unknown)

With you travel two long-serving members of your retinue: The Translator and The Cartographer, Silkscale-clan intelligentsia tasked to help you map and navigate these caverns and decipher whatever writings you may find within. Mindful of the dangers which dwell in dark place, you have also brought a small smattering of six kobolds—recent recruits, cowed by a fellow dragonblooded warrior, eager to earn favour in your eyes and familiar with these mountains and their secrets. A seventh of their race joins you, also: Hapo, the furtive kobold excavator whose arm you slew and whose treasure and status you stole, but whom you have offered clemency from your blade and your fiery breath if he leads to where he and his late friend (whom you slew) found the demon ring and the dragon eggs.

Before you plunge once more into the inner earth (and into adventure!), there is one more thing to attend to, however…

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>>5307144
LEVELING UP!

In your first adventure, you demonstrated a number of propensities, for good an ill: a powerful will and dominant pride which caused you to second-guess even your hereditary betters and (at times) the Dark Gods themselves; a dogged determination to ascend beyond your heritage and to become a True Dragon; an affinity for fellow outcasts, for the lowborn, and even for such lesser creatures such as sapient arthropods and ape-folk like elves). In what class will you take your next level?

>Dragon Shaman Level 2
[Improves Firebreath and Reptilian Empathy, grants resistance to all energy attacks, opens up possibility to refine Dragonshape spell]

>Paladin of Pride
[Improves Intimidation and Seduction, grants you Royal Splendour spell to further amplify your presence and grant you resistance to all mind-affecting abilities]

>Outcast Champion
[Improves Fisticuffs and Leadership, Reptilian Empathy becomes Outcast Empathy and affects all lowly and disenfranchised creatures forsaken by the gods, and gain the spell Avenger’s Aura to empower your allies to grant them combat bonuses when working together against mightier or highly-placed foes]

Previous chapter, and the precursor questwhich is not required reading to understand this quest, are at https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=reptoidqm

>>5307145
>Paladin of Pride
paladin of pog

>>5307145
>Dragon Shaman Level 2
MORE DRAGON

Question about Outcast Empathy though, does it still affect all reptilians, or only outcast reptilians?

>>5307145
>Dragon Shaman Level 2

Outcast champion would honestly be really helpful in getting the other subterranean races on our side. There's the Drow and those weird spiky guys we cold try to meet with. I would go for it if it didn't get rid of Reptilian empathy. Or do we still have our Reptilian Empathy and it just adds the Outcast part to it?

>>5307178
>>5307181
[You would trade Reptilian Empathy for Outcast Empathy, but you would still have your natural sway of reptilians... Just not as dominant, especially over the highly-born, outside of Dragonshape. They would instinctive recognize you as an outcast, essentially, rather than a superior reptile.]

>>5307145
>Dragon Shaman Level 2

I like outcast for later but become dragon first!

>>5307145
>Dragon Shaman Level 2

>>5307145
>Paladin of Pride
[Improves Intimidation and Seduction, grants you Royal Splendour spell to further amplify your presence and grant you resistance to all mind-affecting abilities]

>>5307145
>Dragon Shaman Level 2
Nice images, RQM.

>>5307407
[Thanks!]

My stocks tanked $6000 down, my divorce settlement was $8300, so I decided "fuck it, splurge on some art for my main hobby"

>>5307145
>Dragon Shaman Level 2
More Dragon!
[my question last thread was related to the Kinslayer subquest of Ismena; it was our mother's cousin and not our cousin mother's; sorry for being a retard]

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Rolled 25 (1d100)

>>5307407
>>5307402
>>5307350
>>5307186
>>5307181
>>5307178
>>5307166
>>5307451


You take a moment, before you set out on the next leg of this month-long journey, to meditate. You meditate not on your ignoble origins, on your diluted bloodline, but on the flame which rages inside—in your heart, your fire-lung, your very spirit. Legs crossed, inner-eyelids closed and forming a translucent film between you and the material realm, you explore the nature of strength, legacy, and true power… On what it means to be a capital-D ‘Dragon’, at its fundament.

>Gained: +1 Firebreath
>Gained: +1 Reptilian Empathy
>Gained: Resistance to ALL Energy Types

Since your breakthrough a few weeks ago, you’ve been feeling more and more in-tune with that. Having a small army of subjugated and subservient kobolds at you back-and-call certainly doesn’t hurt, either, nor a hoard to put even your masters back home to shame. The real breakthrough was destroying the so-called ‘Dragonwrought’ leader of these kobold rebels, though. It occurs to you (and you feel the truth of this revelation in your heart-of-hearts) that part of the TRUE meaning of dragonhood is to understand and control all things Reptilian.

“Superior One?”

You allow your nictating membranes to slide open, and see the Cartographer before you, and the Translator and your kobolds behind him. They look to you expectantly.

“Yes, let us go,” you acknowledge, standing and adjusting your armour. You pull your new cloak around it, though you remain unclear on its purpose; the magical nature of it, and the prestige of it as a symbol of your victory, helps to keep the kobolds ensorcelled by fear and respect.

Hapo at the lead, and the Cartographer at his flank, furiously taking notes and charting your course, you enter into the craggy passages of the kobolds’ territory. Most of it is rough-hewn, functional, and so tight that a massive male like yourself must bow his head. It is irritating and, perhaps worse, suboptimal for combat.

“What threats can we expect down hear?” you demand.

Hapo shrugs, and says: “Not many. Kobolds scare off. DRAGOWROUGHT scare off, with our power.”

“Then I will have the same effect and then some, as the conqueror of such a pretender,” you say, reminding the defeated kobold of his place. He had been half of that ‘Dragonwrought’ entity, roughly, and you will not let your guide take advantage of your clemency tor rebuild his clout and authority with his race.

“Yes,” he says, “of course.”

He is seething silently behind the words. You can feel it, with your attunement to all things reptiloid. He fears you, though, too much to defy you. Good.

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>>5307452
The sense of wholeness which accompanies reptilian command is broken—or, at least, you are distracted from enjoying it—when the sound of slow movement against rough stone breaks your reverie. You send a pair of kobold hunters—Ivno and Ohle—ahead to investigate. They come back with worried expressions and auras.

“Fire-lizards,” one says.

“Must have come up from deep place, when the kobolds left,” says the other.

You’re… Not yet sure which is which. Both are male, scrawny, and their red-brown scales are close enough in hue (and their builds and voice also similar enough) to mark them as siblings of the same egg-clutch. You’re told that they are not, however.

“Fire-lizards?” you ask, and look to the knowledgeable members of the Master Race accompanying you: the Translator and Cartographer.

“I believe this term refers to what we know better as THERMAL lizards,” the Translator surmises. “They are but animals, albeit noble ones, who live solitarily or in small clusters, absorbing heat from the deep earth or the sun—whatever is closest—and then channeling it to empower themselves.”

“I could lead us past them,” the Cartographer suggests. “Cross-referencing the maps we’ve made thus far, and Hapo’s recollections, I THINK I have found some correlations with centuries-old expeditionary maps of our own people’s journeys into these mountains. There is an old hall which cold be dug out, by force of kobold-power or your new <Earth Tremor> spell, and thus avoid the encounter altogether.”

“Avoiding a battle is the wise course of action,” the Translator agrees.

Is that what a DRAGON would do, though? Given your recent meditations, you can’t help but wonder about that… And especially with all these kobolds’ eyes on you, including that hollow, bitter gaze of Hapo.

What do you do?
>Take the intellectuals’ advice and avoid combat by tunneling around
>Lead a charge into the fire-lizards’ lair—you are now TWICE as resistant to fire as you already were, and shielding your forces as they return a ranged volley will be nothing to you
>Send your kobolds to battle the monsters, while you and the more valuable party members provide support and advance past them
>Use Reptilian Empathy in an effort to commune with these simple creatures peaceably
>Write-in

>>5307465
>Use Reptilian Empathy in an effort to commune with these simple creatures peaceably

>>5307465
>Use Reptilian Empathy in an effort to commune with these simple creatures peaceably
They're just animals, as far as we know.

>>5307465
>Use Reptilian Empathy in an effort to commune with these simple creatures peaceably

>>5307465
>Use Reptilian Empathy in an effort to commune with these simple creatures peaceably

>>5307465
>Use Reptilian Empathy in an effort to commune with these simple creatures peaceably

>>5307465
>Use Reptilian Empathy in an effort to commune with these simple creatures peaceably
Should we not help them realize their potential for us? As mounts or war animals in OUR horde

>>5307465
>Use Reptilian Empathy in an effort to commune with these simple creatures peaceably
but if that fails
>Lead a charge into the fire-lizards’ lair—you are now TWICE as resistant to fire as you already were, and shielding your forces as they return a ranged volley will be nothing to you
if it comes to combat, keep fapo close to us to ensure that he's mogged by our sheer power

Rolled 3, 11, 14, 20 = 48 (4d20)

>>5307466
>>5307471
>>5307472
>>5307473
>>5307492
>>5307510
>>5307534
>Use Reptilian Empathy in an effort to commune with these simple creatures peaceably

>>5307452
>He is seething silently behind the words.
Bitch YOU got yourself into this mess!

>>5307655
>that 20
Fire is POWER

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“We have nothing to fear,” you announce with some pomp, “from fire, or from lizards.”

Your advisors exchange a glance of uncertainty, but they have seen the destruction you wrought upon greater foes—the fabled ‘Devourer’, for instance, a great rust monster which terrorized nearby regions of the underdark since time immemorial. They trust in you, and follow. And as for the kobolds… Well, they have little choice but to do likewise.

You step into the hallway ahead, and see the narrow, chiseled caverns open wide into a more open room. It is more naturalistic, almost volcanic, and you realize you have entered into the long-empty magma chambers of the volcano which formed this mountain-ranged, and which once filled it. Low it is dormant—dead—like the dragon whose own heat also filled this place… But the mountain is not empty.

Fire-lizards are bigger than you expected. Each is easily the size of you, albeit built in such a way that you would place their weight closer to that of one of the smaller Silkscale-clan males with you. They are red of scale, wide of face, with pitch black eyes which give away little-to-no emotion. Luckily, you are a skilled in the ways of Reptilian Empathy; you do not need to rely on such windows into the soul of such beings.


The fire-lizards, of which you count four, stare at you as you approach. When they see more intruders file in behind you, they grow irate. You take a breath, find your centre, and summon the Fearsome Presence within, projecting an aura of draconic certainty. As they rear slightly, beginning to approach and to illuminate themselves with a burning aura, you step forward to meet them, raise a hand as if to command them to halt…

>20

…And they do. All six of these predators slowly settle back down to an uneasy simmer. The Cartographer and Translator breathe a sigh of relief. The kobolds watch in utter awe, regarding you worshipfully. Even Hapo is not immune to being impressed by such a display of mastery.

>>5307688
“What are we going to do with them?” the Translator asks, regarding the beasts with a mix of trepidation and fascination.

The Cartographer, in consultation with Hapo, makes a suggestion: “If you command of them is complete, Dragonborn, the kobold says that we could benefit from their guidance. The egg-chamber is deep in the mountain, closer to the deepest magma-chamber, and these thermal lizards… They seek out heat. They could know a shortcut”

“Should we expect more of these things?” The Translator asks in alarm.

“Not when was there, with Hako,” Hapo says. “But… None were here, either. The mountain knows that king gone.”

“Well, then the vermin infesting this place can celebrate the return of the king,” you say, feeling a little bold.

What path do you chart?
>Follow the fire-lizards deep into the mountain, on a straight shot
>Attempt to chart a more traditional course—it may bring you through more places of interest, but it will take longer and possibly require excavation
>Split up, sending one group along each route
[If you choose the last, be aware that you have six kobold scouts, plus one-armed Hapo, the Translator, the Cartographer, and yourself, and now four fire-lizards (though they will leave if you are not the one guiding them]

>>5307690
>Follow the fire-lizards deep into the mountain, on a straight shot
Cartographer better be getting all these dank uncharted routes in his notes

>>5307690
>Split up, sending one group along each route
Group 1 : Dragonborn, Fire lizards, Hapo, 2 kobolds. Straight shot
Group 2 : Translator, Cartographer, 4 scouts. Look for places of interest.

>>5307690
>Follow the fire-lizards deep into the mountain, on a straight shot

>>5307145
>missed the first vote
Damn, that resistance to mind affecting abilities would be invaluable if we keep dealing with demons and fighting not! Pokemon plants.

Outcast is interesting, but I wouldn’t trade it for Reptilian Empathy. Meditating/conversing with Big Bro is important after all.

>>5307695
Support

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mJZZNHekEQw

>>5307690
>Attempt to chart a more traditional course—it may bring you through more places of interest, but it will take longer and possibly require excavation

>>5307690
>Follow the fire-lizards deep into the mountain, on a straight shot

>>5307690
>Follow the fire-lizards deep into the mountain, on a straight shot
>Make Kobolds ride them

>>5307688
>Split up, sending one group along each route
It's better for us and lizards to take the hot path while the others find something more suitable. I guess kobolds can cone with.

mfwi just realized i enjoy rqm's writing more when I'm not burdened by voting and can just read good stuff

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Rolled 29 (1d100)

>>5307688
*all four the predators

[Dagnabbit. Anyway...

>>5307694
>>5307695
>>5307699
>>5307797
>>5307827
>>5307835
>>5307869
>>5307881

[Posting up! One more possibility of a random encounter on this route, since straight-shot narrowly wins out.]

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Rolled 5 (1d13)

>>5308124
“We will stay together until we know the path is safe, and the eggs are secure,” you decide. “on the route back, we will split up… If it is feasible.”

“A wise decision,” the Translator says, breathing an obvious sigh of relief.

“Off of the old maps…” The Catrographer murmurs, but then flips through a few sheets of bellum and parchment, and produces one of his charcoal sticks. “…But a chance to make more!”

You look to the fire-lizards, and use your mental communion to transmit a message beyond language: “Find the heat at the centre of the mountain.” It is a command they well understand, as it is close to their heart, built into their very biology. Two of the bolder kobolds, Agno and Regne, attempt to mount them; they quickly abandon this plan, discovering both the limits of even a draconically-influenced fire-lizard’s tolerance, and their personal heat tolerances. This whimsy is abandoned, and the lot of you proceed on foot, guided by the slowly-crawling, swaying forms of the salamander-like fire-lizards as they return from whence they came, through a great cleft in the stone which leaves the pick-axe hewn tunnels and artificially-expanded caverns behind for a more naturalistic realm, deeper into the darkness and lit only by the dim orange glow of your feral guides.

“Egg-chamber was not warm, but not warm-warm, not for lizards,” Hapo warns. “They will get close, but not right perfect there. We will need to… Explore.”

“So be it,” you say. “It will still take a great deal of time off of our journey.

In the hours which follow, you take in the scarce, but fascinating, local wildlife. There are bat-like creatures, but eyeless, like a local equivalent to the cave-drakes of your home. There are no glowworms, but there are bio-luminescent, yellow beetles (“fire-bugs”, you’re told), which the fire-LIZARDS lap up like delicacies. They, in turn, feed on a strange, hard-and-dry lichen which grows near the scant sources of moisture. Your waterskins sustain you where a dearth of underground streams or pools leaves you wanting. It is not at all like the damper, colder caverns to which you are accustomed, and the red-grey stone makes the otherwise-familiar underground atmosphere uncanny and alien.

You must be kilometers underground when it happens—an attack, a reminder that this is no gentle stroll through exotic Subterra Incognita. The form it take sis unexpected, though: a sudden blur, a wet sound, and a mass like an enormous, thick pink tentacle!

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>>5308144
Ohle, one of the bravery of the kobolds, who had earlier sought to mount the half-tamed fire-lizard, is snatched up. He shrieks, a piercing sound, and draws his dagger, but as he stabs repeatedly at the suction-cup-covered tendril, it becomes apparent that he is affecting little permanent damage. You squint into the darkness, willing your Darkvision to extend further, and you see the body behind this unconventional appendage. Your eyes widen, then, for it is no tentacle as of a squid… But a tongue, leading into a gaping, peg-toothed maw. The creature behind it is twice your size, thrice your girth, and bulbous, coated in a greasy yellow sludge which drips over its pinkish rolls. It stares at its meal with beady, black eyes which have no time for the rest of you—only for Ohle.

“HELP! HELP! HEEEELP!” Ohle screams, stabbing away like a reptiloid possessed. His other arm is pinned to his side, his legs kick frantically and fruitlessly.

The other kobolds draw slings and crossbows, firing a volley of bolts and stones… But while sticks and stones may theoretically break bones, they cannot penetrate the beast’s blubber. You, for your part, attempt to extend your Fearsome Presence… But it is equally useless. This thing, whatever it is… It’s no reptile.

“Superior One,” the Translator hastily whispers to you, “he is a kobold. Leave him, and let’s go while the beast is distracted.”

Hapo says nothing, watching you more than his near-doomed clan-comrade. He is not any more fearful than the savage, rural kobolds who attack, just conscious of his one-limbed limitations… And of the fact that the decision you make here may well affect how the kobolds see you.

What do you do?
>Aim your bow and attack at a distance—you’ll do your best to aid Ohle, but not at any great risk to yourself
>Draw your swords and charge into the fray, a whirlwind of amputation and aggression
>Assume <Improved Dragonshape>; you feel as if your mana reserve has grown somewhat, and it would allow you to both fight better and to project your Fearsome Presence to non-reptiles
>Flee deeper—Ohle is, let’s be honest, only a kobold… And a kobold who attacked your retinue only a couple days ago!
>Command your forces to attack [specify which ones, and to what end]
>Write-in

>>5308153
>Assume <Improved Dragonshape>; you feel as if your mana reserve has grown somewhat, and it would allow you to both fight better and to project your Fearsome Presence to non-reptiles

>>5308153
>Assume <Improved Dragonshape>; you feel as if your mana reserve has grown somewhat, and it would allow you to both fight better and to project your Fearsome Presence to non-reptiles
Time to experiment

>>5308153
>Assume <Improved Dragonshape>; you feel as if your mana reserve has grown somewhat, and it would allow you to both fight better and to project your Fearsome Presence to non-reptiles

>>5308153

Charge in there and shove our potion of miniaturization into the thing's mouth?

If it's tiny, it will drop Ohle and we can stomp it to death?

>>5308186
Confirmed for a viable write-in

>>5308186
Very interesting option. Voting for this.

>>5308153
>Assume <Improved Dragonshape>; you feel as if your mana reserve has grown somewhat, and it would allow you to both fight better and to project your Fearsome Presence to non-reptiles

>>5308186
I love this idea, but it can come in handy for that later

>>5308186
dunno if I want to blow a potion on saving some kobold

then again it might start kicking our ass and we'd need the potion

>>5308153
>Dragonshape + Firebreath
it looks like it won't like fire

>>5308153
>Assume <Improved Dragonshape>; you feel as if your mana reserve has grown somewhat, and it would allow you to both fight better and to project your Fearsome Presence to non-reptiles
>Firebreath to add to the Intimidation

>>5308186
You know the mini-me retains the majority of its strength, right lads?

>>5308153
>Assume <Improved Dragonshape>; you feel as if your mana reserve has grown somewhat, and it would allow you to both fight better and to project your Fearsome Presence to non-reptiles

>>5308284

Understood but I'd rather fight a grizzly bear the size of an ant than an ant the size of a grizzly bear?

Rolled 12, 8, 18, 19, 5, 19, 9, 11, 14 = 115 (9d20)

[3 for spellcraft to determine the speed of transformation, 1 for enemy action, 5 for the Fearsome Presence]

>>5308517
Transformation is 18, enemy action is 19, fearsome presence also 19.
We really are cutting it close with our roles again aren't we?

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>>5308517
>>5308528
>>5308284
>>5308275
>>5308236
>>5308185
>>5308179
>>5308164

You flex your muscles to full attention, then relax them, again and again. You control your breathing, directing it in and out, willing it to bring energy in and release impurity of blood and spirit. You focus on all things Dragon, and you let the mana build, and flow through you, from your spiritual core to the body around it. Your form shifts and transforms—a sensation you’ve felt before, but still unfamiliar to you. You grow taller, stronger. Your skin darkens and thickens, growing more heavily-scaled and metallic in hue beneath your armour. Your face expands outwards, snout lengthening and broadening, teeth elongating and multiplying as your talons do likewise. You force yourself to limit your growth so as not to burst your plate asunder with the sudden expansion.

Even with your self-limitation, you are MUCH more powerful than you were mere moments ago—physically and mystically. Your will, previously a force of nature known only to the reptiloid races, is now altogether more tangible… And it is tangible to ALL beings, regardless of their origins. The tongue-monster certainly senses it—its beady eyes fix on you, and you feel an instinctive fear and respect well up in it. Ohle, ensnared by this hungry beast, is similarly transfixed. He must see in you his salvation, for he regards you with the adoration appropriate to a living dragon even as he is moments from being eaten. So too do the other kobolds… Even (though you can see it mingled with bitter envy in his expression) Hapo.

>18 for Spellcraft
>19 for Fearsome Presence
>19 for enemy action
>Result…

The bloated carnivore attacking your vassal slowed its assault to behold your terrific transformation, buying Ohle the Kobold precious time. Now, however, it acts. It recognizes in you an apex predator, a threat to its life and CERTAINLY a risk to its peaceful repast. As such… It flees, Ohle still in its clutches. This, in turn, breaks the spell you have over the disappearing kobold.

“W-wait! HELP! No! AAAAAA-”
This bulbous thing stealing your subject is not exactly FAST, but it is climbing a natural shaft in the stone, squirming and shuffling away into some unknown hidey-hole amidst the long-dormant channels through which magma once flowed to the surface to become lava. If you are not going to let it escape—or spend precious time pursuing it—you will have to act fast.

What do you do?
>Use firebreath—though the heat may afflict Ohle, also
>Draw your bow and unleash arrows upon this thing, hoping to penetrate its blubber somewhere vital
>Climb up after it, hunting it down to its lair if necessary
>Let it go—you have secured MOST of your party’s safety, and no more creatures like this will dare approach you in Dragonshape
><Jump> after the thing and slice it open with your moon-blade
>Write-in

>>5308529

>Climb up after it, hunting it down to its lair if necessary
Well, let's see what this form can do. Presumably scaling the rock wall will be much easier given the physical bonuses.

>>5308529
I knew we should have just shrunk the monster and been done with it.
>Climb up after it, hunting it down to its lair if necessary
We are now bigger so we should have a better time climbing the walls.

You know something? We definitely scared this thing. What if we yell really loudly as we climb? Maybe we can frighten it into dropping Ohle

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>5308529
>Use firebreath—though the heat may afflict Ohle, also
>Draw your bow and unleash arrows upon this thing, hoping to penetrate its blubber somewhere vital
rollan

>>5308529
><Jump> after the thing and slice it open with your moon-blade

>>5308529
>Climb up after it, hunting it down to its lair if necessary

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>>5308538
>>5308585
>>5308597
>>5308616
>>5308652
You decide to pursue the retreating beast. Your enhanced form makes you faster than before, and it isn’t exactly the speediest quarry around to begin with. Better yet, your slight increase in size allows you to brace your bac against the stone of the shaft it is ascending, and to gradually shimmy yourself up after it. It would be even faster going if you could use your elongated claws but, alas, your gauntlets currently preclude this, and you’d waste even more time descending to remove them before starting anew.

Your allies follow you as far as they can, but none of them have the size or vertical leap needed to properly ascend that shaft. Instead, the kobolds begin clambering a top one another to form a sort of ladder for one of their number (Ivno? You think?) to crawl up after you. He follows you, a knife clutched in his teeth, and a small pickaxe serving to help him climb. His bravery is impressive—altogether different from what you’ve heard of kobolds, and have come to expect from your handy defeat of their people.

It is a tiring ascent, for the shaft is quite long. You are continually plagued by the fear that the <Improved Dragonshape> spell will fade, taking your enhanced strength with it, but you persevere, and eventually reach the creature’s lair. It is a smooth-walled dome of stale air and rot-stink amidst the solid stone, a bubble of cooled volcanic rock pock-marked by holes; the largest of these give way to more tunnels like that which you just ascended. For a moment you fear you will have to chase this ugly tongue-beast through these tunnels for an even LONGER stretch of time, but luckily for you (you think), it has clearly tired of this pursuit and decided to make its final stand.

The creature croaks at you like some great toad. Ohle, battered and bruised and barely conscious, whimpers beneath of it his captor’s great, flat feet. ‘Hands’ like fleshy, spike-studded stumps flex as the tongue-monster eyes you, its massive oral appendage still hanging freely, flopping angrily in some threat display. When you approach, it swings out at you like a warhammer, narrowly missing with a blow that probably could have concussed you had it connected. Still, attacking from range is a dangerous proposition: you’ve seen this thing’s layers of fat eat crossbow bolts (some of which are still sticking out of it!) without any apparent lasting effect, and firebreath risks frying your kobold ally. You’ve come to far to just cook him alive NOW!

>>5309010
You can feel your <Improved Dragonform> beginning to fade. It will not last much longer… But, for now, you think you might be this enormous creature’s physical equal. It ahs the advantage of reach, however, and a hostage underfoot.

Ivno finally hauls himself up breathlessly behind you. He squeaks with alarm when he sees the showdown going on between you and this grotesque menace, and scrambles to his feet and into a battle-stance. He raises his pick-axe in one hand, and takes his dagger in his other.

“What do, Dragon?” he whispers urgently.
>Charge in together, to take this thing down through sheer, brutal force
>Draw the monster’s ire with your bow, distracting it while Ivno recovers Ohle and the two kobolds get to safety, then use Firebreath
>Attempt to lob the Potion of Diminution down this thing’s gut, shrinking it down to make it a more manageable opponent
>Sick Ivno on it as a distraction, then attack it from behind with a killing blow… Though likely Ivno will find himself injured in the process
>Write-in

>>5309013
>Charge in together, to take this thing down through sheer, brutal force

>>5309013
>Charge in together, to take this thing down through sheer, brutal force

>>5309013
>Sick Ivno on it as a distraction, then attack it from behind with a killing blow… Though likely Ivno will find himself injured in the process
As long as Ivno doesn't perceive it as betrayal, I have zero issue using the kobolds as meat shields. Hype him up and tell him to bravely rescue his buddy and all that.

>>5309010
>Charge in together, to take this thing down through sheer, brutal force

>>5309013
>Draw the monster’s ire with your bow, distracting it while Ivno recovers Ohle and the two kobolds get to safety, then use Firebreath

File: DgaBjv0.png (313 KB, 639x478)

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Rolled 6, 14, 18, 6, 5, 3 = 52 (6d20)

>>5309035
>>5309042
>>5309046
>>5309105
>>5309212
You look to Ivno and nod your head towards the tongue-beast. He glances rapidly between the two of you and, with obvious trepidation, he nods as well. He’s nervous, but confidence in your might (or simply unwillingness to abandon his friend) drives him forward. You draw your blade, and he twirls his pick once—a meaningless flourish, meant to build courage. The beast lifts its foot from Ohle, who gasps for breath and curls up in pain. The monsters steps forward, slamming its tongue down upon the ground witha wet slap and a bellowing cry.

“NOW!” you roar.

You and Ivno lunge forward as one…

[3d20, DC 13 due to Dragonshape; 1d20 DC 16 for Ivno; 2d20 for enemy response]

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>>5309230
>6
The tongue-tyrant is an opportunist, as one might expect of an ambush predator. As before, it strikes for the smaller target first: its tongue sweeps the ground, knocking Ivno’s legs out from under him almost immediately. He lets loose a wail of panic and despair, which seems melodramatic until you realize that the tendril-tongue has him tied at the tail, and is even now pulling him towards the hungering horror.


“As if I would allow that,” you scoff.

>14 vs 3

It is the monster’s turn to cry out in fear and pain as you stomp your boot down upon its tongue, pinning it in place and preventing any further effort to eat your bite-sized companion. The bloated, toad-like thing attempts to rear back, to pull its tongue free, but you lean all your weight into your foot, and grip the root of its tongue for added leverage. IT hopelessly, pitifully pulls against your might, but it is a losing battle

…Well, for now. Even now, you can feel your strength waning. The Dragonshape is losing its potency.

You waste no more time. Instead, you command Ivno: “Grab the tongue! Pull, with me!”

He scrambles to his feet, liberated by the panicking beast as it focuses its effort on you. Though he is small, and not especially muscular, Ivno’s extra effort is the small advantage you need to wrench the damned blob-thing towards you. As it stumbles forward, flailing, you release your own grip and steps into its slimy embrace. You raise your sword and let the force of your thrust join with the weight of momentum of your forward-falling foe, and impale the damned thing upon your elven moon-blade.


>18 vs 5

The creature thrashes and bucks, desperately swatting at you, but you are too close for either of your comfort—and, more importantly, in a spot its stubby limbs struggle tor each. Ivno releases the tongue, no longer able to hold it with only his own strength, but it its rage and terror the beast ahs lost control of its primary weapon, which waves in the air and fops about uselessly. With a wrathful roar, you use the last of your spell-strength to crave your uncanny blade upward and out of the beast, splitting it from groin through gut to gaping mouth. Blood and guts spill forth, tarnishing your beautiful armour… But also ending this vile and verminous villain. As you step back to avoid being crushed by the tottering troglodyte, you are shocked and appalled to see spools and spools of further tongue, and powerful attaching muscles, revealed from the gaping wound where you bisected it.

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>>5309246
“Is… Dead?” Ivno whispers, peering around you with dagger yet ready.

You nod affirmatively, as you feel the last of your dragon-vigor leaving you. Your skin itches a little, and you know you will soon need to remove your plate to peel away the drying second-skin produced by your now-failing transformation. However, unlike when you’ve used this ability previously, you feel… Unemptied, part-way full, as if your expanded mana reserves have another such transformation left in them… provided you do nothing else with that magical power in the meantime.

Ohle is in worse shape, though. He is conscious, but only sporadically. You can see one arm was broken in his struggle, and his bruising from the battery has turned his red-brown scaly skin to a swollen purple-green. He tries not to, but when Ivno touches him, the other kobold cries out. Bringing him back down the magma-melted shaft is an ordeal nearly equal to your slaying of his captor, even with Ivno’s help, and for none is it as arduous as for Ohle himself.

“While your victory was no-doubt glorious, is seems it was for naught, Superior One,” the Translator reflects with a sigh. “We now press on with an injured party, I suppose.”

“We should leave him,” the Cartographer says, without malice or mercy. “We cannot slow our progress or hamper our ability for a half-feral kobold.”

When you leave your advisors to inquire with the kobolds—who you hope didn’t hear that last exchange too clearly, for the sake of morale—Hapo provides an alternative.

“Ring-demon may know how to fix,” he suggests, pointing to your pack with his sole remaining hand. “Necklace… Demon said it did many things, including heal.”

You idly tape at the magical necklace you wear, but the properties of which remain unknown to you even now. It seems Hapo was holding out on you earlier, though his own knowledge DOES seem woefully incomplete… Assuming he’s not just lying to try to get you to release the demon for a quick consultation that could turn into a mutiny attempt. You don’t SENSE overt hostility in him… But you see a dark ambition in him which could easily be deceit.

What do you do?
>Carry on, having the other kobolds tend to Ohle until you can get him back to the surface
>Leave Ohle hear and carry on without him for now
>Try on the demon ring, and try to extract information on the necklace from it
>Try using the necklace WITHOTU consultation—you have some magical skill yourself, after all!
>Put Ohle out of his misery quickly and painlessly, with your blade
>Write-in

>>5309248
WE'RE NOT LOOSING THE DEMON FOR A KOBOLD WE DON'T CARE ABOUT
>Put Ohle out of his misery quickly and painlessly, with your blade
Also supporting leaving him here.

>>5309248
>Leave Ohle hear and carry on without him for now
We might pick him up when we come back.
Cartographer is right.

>>5309248
>Carry on, having the other kobolds tend to Ohle until you can get him back to the surface
Leave one or two
will support leaving him alone if this fails

>>5309292
>>5309320

This is probably most in character for us given our soft streak. Maybe have the Novice splint his arm and leave them some supplies?

>>5309248
I'm just now joining the quest, but can we get a whole lot of Kobold followers if we can fly and breath fire? I like kobolds.

>>5309433
Kobolds are subreptilians. It's like wanting to be worshipped by midget rednecks.

>>5309292
Supporting

He’ll be fine here

>>5309456
I see nothing wrong with this. They'd make for useful minions.

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>>5309254
>>5309292
>>5309320
>>5309345
>>5309466
You’ve been accused of softness-of-heart, primarily by the Novice Fleshweaver, your childhood tormentor and currently your primary medical specialist. Right about now, you regret leaving her in the kobold settlement—her ability to mend flesh-wounds or create potions to speed the healing of graver injuries would be invaluable right now. In her absence, though, you must leave Ohle to fend for himself—you are not SO soft.

The kobolds, who seem what community-minded, are reticent to leave one of their own behind, particularly Ivno. They’re even more hesitant to defy you, though, and after seeing some of the beasties who have moved into this wild realm in their absence, they would not dare to remain here on their own, without your protection.

Your forces are tried from the long climb/march downwards, and with the rush of battle fading, you sympathize. You rest for a time, eating and drinking some of your rations. The fire-lizards grow listless during your downtime, but you appease them with a portion of your own rations. The brief pause in your progress gives Ohle time to at least regain consciousness, too. When you tell the injured kobold of your plan—noting that he should be fine, and that you will retrieve him on your return trip—he trembles slightly, but does not object or argue.

Do you do anything else with this period of rest?
>Commend the kobolds on their bravery and performance thus far
>Have a talk with Hapo about his ambitions [specify if you threaten him further, attempt to negotiate peaceably, or something else]
>Try to more properly and permanently tame the fire-lizards presently following you
>Consult with the Translator or Cartographer about something [what?]
>Use divination to attempt to glean what threats and opportunities lie ahead
>No, just press on

[Write-ins allowed, but please choose no more than two major activities]

>>5309521
>Commend the kobolds on their bravery and performance thus far
They need that morale boost to balance out leaving one of their own. Just keep it formal.
>Try to more properly and permanently tame the fire-lizards presently following you

>>5309521
>Try to more properly and permanently tame the fire-lizards presently following you
>Use divination to attempt to glean what threats and opportunities lie ahead

>>5309521
>Use divination to attempt to glean what threats and opportunities lie ahead
>Try to more properly and permanently tame the fire-lizards presently following you
I feel like "commending" isn't a major activity. Maybe we can just say something but not make a whole thing out of it.

>>5309707
[Fair, but it won't get much soace in the write-up and will be treated as a simple, not necessarily hugely morale-boosting 'attaboy' if so.]

>>5309710
That's fine.

>>5309536
>>5309707
Just a reminder that if we use divination, we won't be able to use Fearsome Presents for the second time.

>>5309729
you are confusing with improved dragonshape.
Still, we can couter-ambush ambushers.

>>5309707
Supporting

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Rolled 19, 15, 8, 9 = 51 (4d20)

>>5309805
>>5309707
>>5309536
>>5309523

You summon the kobolds to you—well, except Ohle. You got to him, by necessity.

“You have all performed quite well,” you announce, in an impromptu performance evaluation. “You deserve to be commended for what you’ve done today.”

The kobolds exchange glances which might be subtle, to one without your innate empathy for all things Reptilian. They are… Confused, perplexed, unsure whether you are being serious and, if so, to what end.

“Thank you, Dragonborn?” says…

Uh….

“You’re welcome… Regne?”

“Agno,” the kobold corrects, then seems to panic at the realization that he has just contradicted you in front of an audience. He bows his head low.

You clear your throat, and turn around. No need to make a whole thing out of this.

“Anyway,” you segue, “What does your clan know of these ‘fire-lizards’?”

The majority of your rest is spent getting the kobolds and fire-lizards more comfortable with one another, while the kobolds—Agno in particular—share their people’s knowledge of the creatures.

“They come from deep-deep, but like bird, come up to surface with season. High summer, the fire=lizards bask in sun in high-high places, catch food… Sometimes kobold. Sometimes kobolds eat them, instead. Collect sacks from inside, strips along back and sides full of… Of ORGAN, unique to fire-lizard, collects heat and warmth and stores in sack. Leather is tough, fireproof.”

Agno and Regne, and to a lesser extent Ivno, are clearly fascinated to be this close to the normally skittish, hostile lizards, and the former two take great amusement is reaching out to touch the lizards, playing a game whereby they see who pulls their hand back first before risking being burned by the irate animal. You experiment is ‘instructing’ the fire-lizards to withhold that fiery response, dialing up your Fearsome Presence when they threaten the kobolds and rewarding them with cooked and preserved strips of rust-monster flesh when they show tolerance of the harassment.

“Can they be domesticated?” you ask, hopefully.

The kobolds look at you like you’ve grown an extra head.

“Has it ever been attempted?” you ask.

They shake their heads in the negative.

Well then, you suppose you are a pioneer at the frontier of knowledge once more. Novice Fleshweaver, eat your heart out.

Rolled 17, 20 = 37 (2d20)

>>5309836
>19, 15
You encounter great success with two fire-lizards in particular, who you are gradually able to induce by means of empathic connection and your system of punishment-and-reward to obey simple commands, such as “Come here”, “Go there”, “and “Drop that kobold! Do not eat that kobold!”

One of the two is even eventually convinced to come close enough, and stay close enough, to allow you to scratch at its wattle and the rough skin around its ear, which it seems to enjoy. You gradually reduce the intensity of your draconic aura; as the Presence abates, two of the four fire-lizards in your thrall begin to grow agitated, and to make to leave, but the one you are scratching and one of its fellows remains. You get the feeling that these two, at least, will stay and remain somewhat calm without your constant, direct supervision.

The next course of action is to meditate and to divine some <Guidance> as to what lies ahead. You leave the fire-lizards in the care of the kobolds, though you fashion some impromptu muzzles from corded leather which the Translator had apparently acquired from the Drow. While you are in meditation, you will hardly be able to maintain your Fearsome Presence, after all, and even the two tamest of the animals are still not exactly comfortable around the rest of your allies.

This practical matter thus attended to, you fit a comfortable bulge of rock to alight upon, remove your helm for the sake of comfort, and let your nictitating membranes slide closed and your senses seek out the threads of fate-unwritten as they have in the past…

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>>5309852
>20
Almost immediately, you are assailed by a vivid vision of the future… Or the present, but at a distance? There is another thread, or a cord of threads, bound together, and their fate converges with that of you and yours! You sense a friction between the two, and inevitably clash or conflict… And, at its centre, a vision of a clutch of cracked and battered eggs—the dragon eggs! You see that they are mostly-intact, buts sense no spark of life in them; as one might expect after so long buried beneath the earth, they are dead before having been born. Still, they are of immense symbolic, cultural and potentially MYSTCIAL value.

Of greater immediate concern, though, is the other collection of souls who seems destined to collide with you over those eggs, and the other treasures of this lost kingdom. You see tight strips of cloth, bundled cloaks, and poking through these layers, spines and spines. With grim familiarity, you identify the threat which approaches: an underdark scavenger of a sort you encountered on your journey here. You know not what they are called in the dwarf-tongue which they speak, but some in your retinue took to calling the one which you once captured a ‘barbed devil’ or ‘dark creeper’. Both terms are apt: the one you discovered was capable of magically hiding its presence, was strong of arm, and was covered in an array of organic spines and spikes with which to impale its victims in a brutal bearhug. Your armour protected you last time, as well as your <Danger Sense>…

But you sense that there is more than one of the things. More than that, you sense… Something else. Chains, and the flapping of leather wings, and a chill like that of the grave traveling through your spine and forcing you to repress a shudder. A wave of revulsion and exhaustion afflicts you, and you lose the vision, opening your eyes to the world of the here and now once again. A leader… A barbed devil bandit-king, atop a winged mount, commanding some heretic magic!

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>>5309872
Your party is better-rested once more, though it was not so long a rest as for anyone to sleep. You feel you have another couple spells left in you, and another fight if it comes down to it… And, by your vision, a fight is what you’re in for, more likely than not. A longer rest seems possible, but not if you wish to the beat these devils to the egg-clutch. After that, you sense that they will rise towards the surface, looting your race’s relics from the rest of the compound—the ‘traditional route’ which the Cartographer suggested excavating and exploring on your return journey, based on his admittedly-old maps. You could head them off there… But who knows what twill become of the eggs, in the meantime, and what valuables or knowledge might be destroyed or removed before you catch them?

What will you do?
>Press on immediately, advancing quickly to reach the egg-chamber in advance of these damned scavengers, to secure the eggs
>Rest a while longer, and attempt to head the barbed devils off in the ruins of your people, at full fighting strength
>Send an advance force [specify who] to meet the devils, while the others rest and then trace the ruins-route to meet up with and reinforce the others
>Hold back, laying traps and sending a runner to call for reinforcements from the kobold settlement and the rest of your retinue
>Retreat—you’re ill-prepared for such a battle
>Write-in

>>5309874
>Press on immediately, advancing quickly to reach the egg-chamber in advance of these damned scavengers, to secure the eggs
exterminate all devils

>>5309874
>Press on immediately, advancing quickly to reach the egg-chamber in advance of these damned scavengers, to secure the eggs
Eat a light snack and get a sip of water if you have any?

>>5309885
[Your party snacked while you were traveling and resting. You have some waterskins, and rations from home, from the meal with the Drow, and meat taken from the Devourer (see Thread 1 at around >>5296445, with the battle against the great rust-monster being the posts prior)]

>>5309874
>Press on immediately, advancing quickly to reach the egg-chamber in advance of these damned scavengers, to secure the eggs

>>5309874
>Press on immediately, advancing quickly to reach the egg-chamber in advance of these damned scavengers, to secure the eggs
SECURE THE EGGS
THEN KILL EM ALL

>>5309836
>The kobolds exchange glances which might be subtle, to one without your innate empathy for all things Reptilian. They are… Confused, perplexed, unsure whether you are being serious and, if so, to what end.
what the fuck man, that's 2 now
the first time we thanked our crew, they thought we were trying to get something out of them
we're not a sociopathic lizard goddamnit

>>5309920
Jesus how depressing. Their lizard brains probably work different than ours? Something something lizard people having no empathy?

>>5309874
>Press on immediately, advancing quickly to reach the egg-chamber in advance of these damned scavengers, to secure the eggs

File: 26c51aae09aa9f630c35f0930(...).jpg (70 KB, 640x815)

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Rolled 5, 13, 4 = 22 (3d20)

>>5309878
>>5309885
>>5309890
>>5309910
>>5310023
There is no time to waste! You muster your forces, leaving injured Ohle behind by necessity, and press on immediately. The eggs MUST be secured. The devils MUST be driven back, be in an empty-handed retreat or total extermination which ends the threat of their invasion. This is YOUR mountain, now!

None of your forces argue—not the Silkscale intelligentsia, not the kobolds, not Hapo. Even the fire-lizards fall into your furiously-paced march without objection. You bristle with urgency, and they all feel it in their bones, their muscles and ligaments, in the stem of their lizard-brains. A dragon marches to war—they follow. It is the way of things.

The fire-lizards, as Hapo forewarned, can only get you so close. The croak and groan as you reach one great chamber with many winding tunnels, carved smooth by escaping molten rock from the deep-earth. Lava lives here, bubbling audibly in the distance, lending a thermal energy which augments your darkvision. They wish to head for the place of greatest heat… But that’s not where the eggs are.

Luckily, your vision of <guidance> yet lingers.

“This way!” you declare, drawing your sword and pointing its luminous, white blade towards the tunnel-entrance in the red-black rock which feels most correct.

It’s a touch melodramatic, but it works, and you feel your forces rally, bracing themselves for battle with an inner steel to which your heroic flair lends additional resolve. They will need it…

[Athleticism check]

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>>5310071
>13
…Because you arrive too late. Well, not exactly TOO late—rather, right on-time for the confrontation which you envisaged. You find a crumbled natural wall, chipped and dismantled by kobold activity; through this entrance into the small reptiloids’ mining complex, Hapo leads you to where he and the other kobold who once formed the so-called Dragonwrought found their cache of magic items, ‘shinies’… And the eggs.

And there, in this holy place, you see them. Having expanded a small hole on the opposite wall through strength-of-arm and rusted hammer and pick, there lurk a small cluster of cloth-swaddled, glowing-eyed mammals. Pinpricks of deadly sharpness penetrate their clothing at odd angles, lending the collection of a half-dozen stout figures an air of danger… And confirming their identity. Barbed devils, or whatever you would call them. Scavengers of the deep places. You think you even recognize one of them—the parasitic opportunist who once tried to assail you, who you captured and mercifully spared. If he remembers the way you and Glowie (the venomous and surprisingly-stealthy worm-woman princess, awaiting you topside in Reptilain disguise) dealt with him so handily before, it would certainly explain and nervous step he takes backwards. Perhaps you are mistaken, though, for all of his cohort seem taken-aback by the way you barrel into the room, backed by five kobolds, a pair of True Reptilians, and four-fire-lizards, baring a glowing moon-sabre. You see no sign of the leader who you glimpsed in your divination.

The barbed-devils have scarcely entered the room. You have, likewise, only just stepped inside. Neither of you make a move—not right away. It won’t be long, though. No race which thrives in the darkness below long hesitates to take decisive action—if they did, their bloodlines would have perished in this harsh environment long, long ago.

What do you do?
>Attempt to intimidate them away with a roar and a show of force—you cannot assume <Improved Dragonshape>, but you clearly have them on the back foot
>Open diplomacy, having the Translator issue a warning and request formal discussion in dwarf-tongue—you know they speak it
>Strike first, strike hard, no mercy! Set them ablaze with Firebreath, while you allies bombard them with slings and arrows!
>Charge in to block their entry personally, flanked by your fire-lizards, while the rest of your retinue abscond with the eggs
>Write-in

>>5310081
>Open diplomacy, having the Translator issue a warning and request formal discussion in dwarf-tongue—you know they speak it

I talked a big extermination game but if we fight here the eggs might get smashed

>>5310081
>Attempt to intimidate them away with a roar and a show of force—you cannot assume <Improved Dragonshape>, but you clearly have them on the back foot

No mercy - no weakness

>>5310081
>Attempt to intimidate them away with a roar and a show of force—you cannot assume <Improved Dragonshape>, but you clearly have them on the back foot

>>5310081
>Attempt to intimidate them away with a roar and a show of force—you cannot assume <Improved Dragonshape>, but you clearly have them on the back foot

>>5310081
>Attempt to intimidate them away with a roar and a show of force—you cannot assume <Improved Dragonshape>, but you clearly have them on the back foot
>Strike first, strike hard, no mercy! Set them ablaze with Firebreath, while you allies bombard them with slings and arrows!

>>5310081
>Attempt to intimidate them away with a roar and a show of force—you cannot assume <Improved Dragonshape>, but you clearly have them on the back foot
If they do anything rash, not only will we go after them, we will go after their allies. We amgry lizord man.

>>5310081
>>Strike first, strike hard, no mercy! Set them ablaze with Firebreath, while you allies bombard them with slings and arrows!

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Rolled 6, 11 = 17 (2d20)

>>5310206
>>5310201
>>5310192
>>5310124
>>5310119
>>5310100
These are scavengers, glorified thieves and muggers. They’ve steeped into your territory, and while their forces are more physically imposing, you DO outnumber them…

And your side has YOU.

You lift your chin, roll your shoulders, and summon every ounce of the young, draconic wager in your form. You are roughly 300 pounds of honed, Reptilian muscle, packed into a suit of imposing ceremonial armour, wielding a semi-divine sword. You take a heavy step forward, take a deep breath, and ROAR.

How’s THAT for diplomacy?

Rolled 12, 7, 2, 4 = 25 (4d20)

>>5310232
>>5310235
[Athleticism, enemies vs allies (DC 16 for favourable result, slightly outmatched)]

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>>5310235
>>5310242
>11 for intimidation

…Sadly insufficient, it seems. The opposing forces wince, cringing back from your fierce warcry. For a moment, you think you have them. Then, one of them throws an axe.

>12 athelticism

You attempt to dodge, but you are ill-prepared—perhaps overconfident. You had not assumed a proper, readied stance. You catch the axe in the chest, saved only by your armour. Your chestplate is notched, indented, but it deflects the blow; you’re barely winded… But winded, youa re. It takes you a second to regain your initiative…

And in that time, battle is joined.

>4

Your allies are slightly outmatched and, having come to rely so heavily on your own indefatigable confidence and martial merit, they are shocked to see you disregarded and assaulted in such a manner. They react a second or two later than the save-mammals, but in these close quarters, that makes all the difference. The barbed devils fill the room, many of them flickering form sight and seeming to merge with the shadows. Your allies’ initial volley is wild, several crossbow bolts, arrows, and hurled stones nearly impacting YOU in their panic.

Then, the screams begin.

These are scavengers, but they are no carrion-pickers. These devils are warriors, and among your forces, only you are properly armoured to resist their spikes. Aside from their crude stone axes and rusted, pock-marked hammers, the your spike-studded antagonists also wield their very bodies. Once they are in melee range, re-emerging from their cloak state, counterattacks are a dangerous proposition which risk injury to the attacker. Your fire-lizards, in particular, learn that—their mouths and tails tail great injury on the first ill-fated attempt, and they recoil and retreat by necessity.

One of the barbed devils has you in its sight, too, but your greater size and armour gives it pause where its fellows rush in. The pick-axe it brandishes, though… With enough force, that could cave in your helm, pierce your skull. You are not immune to his attacks, by any means… And he’s between you and the eggs.

What do you do?
>Draw your bow and try to get a headshot before he can close distance
>Wrestle his pick away from him—he has no other easy means to slay you, and then he’s at your mercy
>An honourable duel will suffice—you’ll win, and then the eggs are yours
>Fall back to rally your forces, preserving their lives but risking the eggs
>Use a <Jump> to leap over this foe, and garb the eggs before anyone else can steal or damage them
>Write-in

>>5310262
>Draw your bow and try to get a headshot before he can close distance

Should've done diplomacy, we're the peaceful dragonborn.

>>5310262
>>Draw your bow and try to get a headshot before he can close distance

>>5310262
*cave-mammals

>>5310262
>Use a <Jump> to leap over this foe, and garb the eggs before anyone else can steal or damage them

>>5310268
Diplomacy is overrated. Besides, they would have demanded part of our heritage. Fuck. That.

>>5310262
>Draw your bow and try to get a headshot before he can close distance
Kill him fast so we can help our allies, show that where our eye goes, so does death

>>5310400
this

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Rolled 12, 4, 14 = 30 (3d20)

>>5310430
>>5310400
>>5310366
>>5310269
>>5310268
You tuck your sword back into the cloth belt and crude swaddled ‘sheathe’ you have made for it (next to your more properly-sheathed, but altogether less magical, sword from back home at the forward base). Instead, you draw your longbow. It makes no sense to get into melee combat with a thorny thug like this when you can kill from a distance.

‘Distance’, however, is relative in these cramped quarters. Furthermore, the spiked mammal is not QUITE so dim as to be ignorant as to what you are doing. It grips its pick tight and leaps towards you, to bridge the gap. If it makes it into melee range, you’ll be at a disadvantage, having to draw your sword before this strong-limbed aggressor can wrestle you into position to kill you.

You string your arrow and take your shot…

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Rolled 6, 8, 19, 19 = 52 (4d20)

>>5310459
…And hit!

>14

But wait, why is it still coming? At you? Why isn’t it slowing down. You go to notch another arrow when you feel the impact of all that muscle hitting your armoured midsection like a boulder tumbling down a tunnel. You stare at the arrow, firmly embedded in the thing… And realize it must have gotten caught in the tangle of knotted cloth that serves as both clothing and armour for these things.

You avoid being immediately bowled-over, but the barbed devil is at least as strong as you, maybe stronger, and has the advantage of having you off-balance. You are being pushed backwards, away from the eggs, and at risk of being toppled over onto your back like a tortoise, for this barbarian to finish off at its leisure!

[Fisticuffs + a roll for the tide of battle, DC 17 for your forces to turn things around]

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>>5310463
>19
You keep hold of your bow, and swing it like a cudgel, smashing it across your assailant’s face. The below catches it off-guard, and the barbed devil stumbles back. You give it a hard boot, pushing it further away, and you take a moment to draw your sword.

>19

Your allies, too, are holding the line. Despite initially being driven back, they have gathered up and used their superior numbers and their coordination to prevent flanking. Two of the fire-lizards have fled, but the two who you took time to tame remain. These loyal lizards’ bodies now glow yellow-orange with a an intense heat that further helps to ward off the damned devils—they must be no true creature of the Hellish Realms, in spite of the name you’ve given them, for such beings do not fear flame, and these ones shrink back from it, and then are driven back away from your forces by another projectile volley.

You grimace at the stalemate. You’ll need to do something to break this draw… Before the mage-devil comes. You feel as if you can sense it, their commander from the vision, lurking somewhere just beyond the hole they carved to enter this most noble heritage-site like plundering brigands. You wonder if he has reinforcements with him… And you know that, if he does, it would spell doom as things are going now.

What do you do?
>Focus on securing the eggs, and then making a fighting retreat
>Rally for forces for one final push, to surround and overwhelm the barbed devils, though it may cost some of your allies their lives
>Use the Ring of Elemental Command to summon an elemental ally, or two, or three [specify how many, and which ones, and keep in mind the caveats at >>5305366]
>Use an <Earth Tremor> to rebury this place; if you can’t have the eggs, neither will the devils, and perhaps you can re-excavate them later?
>Write-in

>>5310467
>>Rally for forces for one final push, to surround and overwhelm the barbed devils, though it may cost some of your allies their lives
Kobolds are expendables.

>>5310467
Could we do this
>Rally for forces for one final push, to surround and overwhelm the barbed devils, though it may cost some of your allies their lives

Plus a roll for suppressing them with firebreath in tandem with the lizards?

>>5310467
>Focus on securing the eggs, and then making a fighting retreat

>>5310467
>Use the Ring of Elemental Command to summon an elemental ally, or two, or three [Fire]

In fights we generally don't get to choose what allies we lose let's use the ring we choose to attune to. It'd be bad to lose the Cartographer or Translator. Our best bet is probably the Fire Elemental.

>>5310467
Backing >>5310476

>>5310467
>Rally for forces for one final push, to surround and overwhelm the barbed devils, though it may cost some of your allies their lives
>>5310459
Heyy, that's the image I posted. Shame we didn't get the bow per my instructions.

>>5310476
>>5310492
Are you trying to get us killed by untamed fire elemental?

>>5310495
I figured our chances of commanding it with our specialization in dragon shaman were better than our chances of losing a vital ally under your option.

>>5310467
>Rally for forces for one final push, to surround and overwhelm the barbed devils, though it may cost some of your allies their lives
roast em

>>5310499
You say this like a failed roll on fire atronach won't cost our allies lives and after QM specifically quoted hid old post to remind you it was never used and we don't even know whether summoned elementals can be controlled.
Besides, if you want to be safe, why are you voting for combat with a magical wildcard instead of defensive retreat?

>>5310505
>You say this like a failed roll on fire atronach won't cost our allies lives
True, but like other anon said we should have good chances to pass the roll, given dragon shaman and fire affinity. The way I see it, our chances of controlling the fire elemental are better than our chances of not losing allies without it. That's assuming the item wasn't build with safeguards and the elementals don't come out under the owners control, which is also possible.

As for the defensive retreat, I couldn't really picture us gathering eggs up and running away with them while the enemy squad was already on top of us. Not without taking more losses than the other 2 options combined.

>>5310510
>like other anon said we should have good chances to pass the roll, given dragon shaman and fire affinity
No, you said this.
QOf3lSmm said our BEST BET was fire elemental IF we choose the ring.
>The way I see it
The way I see it, you see it incorrectly.
>That's assuming the item wasn't build with safeguards and the elementals don't come out under the owners control, which is also possible.
This is headcanon with no value.
>As for the defensive retreat, I couldn't really picture us gathering eggs up and running away with them while the enemy squad was already on top of us. Not without taking more losses than the other 2 options combined.
The defensive maneuver isn't safe? Matter of fact, it's more dangerous than both risky combat choices COMBINED because you failed to IMAGINE it other way..?

>>5310522
That's a whole lot of nitpicking with a whole lack of anything directly proving me wrong.

>>5310524
Enjoy your headcanon, schizo.

>>5310467
>Rally for forces for one final push, to surround and overwhelm the barbed devils, though it may cost some of your allies their lives

>>5310467
>Use the Ring of Elemental Command to summon an elemental ally, or two, or three [Fire]

>>5310476
+1

>>5310522
Every lizard is resistant to fire why not

>>5310467
>Rally for forces for one final push, to surround and overwhelm the barbed devils, though it may cost some of your allies their lives
Breaking the elemental ring before we even used it is stupid.

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>>5310641
Only the Dragonblooded are resistant to fire.

>>5310467
>Rally for forces for one final push, to surround and overwhelm the barbed devils, though it may cost some of your allies their lives

>>5310495
Look at the boq innyour inventory. You pretty much did, just golden and styled slightly differently.

>>5310659
>>5310641
You are resistant to fire. If the Bastard was with you, he would be, too. Fire lizards absorb heat. All your kobold and Silkscale allies with you are very flammable.

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Rolled 20, 18, 3, 10, 16 = 67 (5d20)

>>5310472
>>5310473
>>5310474
>>5310476
>>5310492
>>5310495
>>5310500
>>5310572
>>5310589
>>5310636
>>5310650
>>5310680
It’s time to do or die—and, for some of your forces, perhaps time to do both.

“Fall back!” you shout to your forces, unafraid of the enemy overhearing your True Speech. “Fire incoming!”

Your forces oblige… Save the fire-lizards who, at your willing of them, push forward. The barbed devils, mistaking this tactical withdrawal for a full retreat, press in to fill the gap…

And enter your kill zone.

With a mirthless grin, you open your maw and unleash Hell.

Rolled 12, 7, 16, 19, 16, 6, 2 = 78 (7d20)

>>5310982
>20 for you
>16 for fire-lizards
Your gambit works perfectly: the barbed devils are completely blindsided by the rushing dragonfire, and the fire-lizards serve as a shield for your own troops, preventing the immolation by absorbing the roiling fire before it can hit the kobolds or True Reptilians of your retinue. Horrid screams and wails go up, and then are silenced.

As the smoke of burning bodies and ashen cloth fills the confines of the room, however, it becomes apparent that there ARE survivors… Barbed devils who sheltered from some of the fire behind they compatriots’ bodies. The burst forth from the smoke, hurtling themselves at you rather than your allies…

[5 allies, 2 enemies.]

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>>5310983
>16, 19, 16 vs 6, 2
…But at your bidding, the kobolds Ivno, Ragno, and Agne leap through the smoke to attack these two surviving devils from behind. The ambush predators are now ambushed, keen senses dulled by blind panic and burning pain. They fall to scrawny lizard-men with knives and axes, stabbed to death and chopped to bits before they ever reach you.

You survey the carnage with grisly pride. There are no survivors to report back to their chieftain, or whatever he is. Two lizards abandoned you, but the forces who remain are all largely unharmed, save a few slashes, gouges, nicks, bruises… Some will scar, but lightly. They will be symbols of triumph and victory, not reminders of loss.

The eggs are right where you last saw them, unharmed.

“Let us take them and go,” the Translator says urgently. “More may arrive.”

“With no survivors to report back, we have time,” the Cartrographer notes. “Let us search for clues as to the name of that demon… And take the ruin-route back. We should leave nothing of value for these warm-blooded scum to loot.”

“And Ohle?” Hapo notes quietly, though all the kobolds silently take note, turning subtly towards him while outwardly still waiting on your judgement. “Have eggs, yeah? Take eggs, get out, get Ohle, go back home.”

You consider your options.
>Grab the eggs, retrieve Ohle, and leave this place post-haste
>Search the room, and the ruins, for means to destroy the demon, or other valuabels belonging to the ancients
>Delve deeper—you will track down whatever remains of the barbed devils and exterminate them from this place forevermore!
>Split up [specify who goes where]
>Write-in

>>5310992
>Grab the eggs, retrieve Ohle, and leave this place post-haste

>>5310992
>Grab the eggs, retrieve Ohle, and leave this place post-haste

Eggs were the main goal

>>5310992
>Grab the eggs, retrieve Ohle, and leave this place post-haste


Let's not be a loot goblin we were pretty lucky with the combat rolls this time around.

>>5310992
>Search the room, and the ruins, for means to destroy the demon, or other valuabels belonging to the ancients
>Delve deeper—you will track down whatever remains of the barbed devils and exterminate them from this place forevermore!
Kill them and protect our heritage!

>>5310992
>Search the room, and the ruins, for means to destroy the demon, or other valuabels belonging to the ancients
>Delve deeper—you will track down whatever remains of the barbed devils and exterminate them from this place forevermore!

>>5311032
+1 but

>>5310992
>Search the room, and the ruins, for means to destroy the demon, or other valuabels belonging to the ancients
See if there any clues that can help us. Search the corpses for anything useful like equipment. Have some kobolds take the eggs back for us.

>>5310992
>Grab the eggs, retrieve Ohle, and leave this place post-haste
>Search the room, and the ruins, for means to destroy the demon, or other valuabels belonging to the ancients
Can we just briefly search this room before we go but not delve deeper?

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Decisions, decisions

>>5310992
>Grab the eggs, retrieve Ohle, and leave this place
We got a nat 20 and we have a chance to avoid further combat with our weak party. Please just go.

>>5310992
>Search the room, and the ruins, for means to destroy the demon, or other valuabels belonging to the ancients
>Delve deeper—you will track down whatever remains of the barbed devils and exterminate them from this place forevermore!
I ain’t giving this up without a fight.

Oh and in case this is relevant I (>>5311136) am also
>>5308209
>>5308528
>>5308585
My ident just keeps changing and I dont know why

>>5310992
>Search the room, and the ruins, for other valuabels belonging to the ancients
Fuck the demon, just take our valuables and run!

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[Writing up!]

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Rolled 96, 86, 1 = 183 (3d100)

>>5311174
>>5311151
>>5311136
>>5311102
>>5311100
>>5311066
>>5311032
>>5311010
>>5310995
>>5310994
“Kobolds, gather the eggs,” you command.

They hop to it, doing so with considerable reverence for these relics,these heirs unborn of a long-dead demigod… Well, except one-armed Hapo, who can be of little assistance with these matters since his amputation. To him, and to the Cartograpehr and Translator, you assign a different task:

“You three, quickly search these rooms, and any adjoining ruins which you can easily access,” you say. “We will waste no time tunneling up through unexcavated, collapsed ruins, looting like… Like GOBLINS. We will own this mountain in time, but the eggs are our objective. We will not die here for the sake of pocket change.”

They each nod, and set to their task. Between the Cartographer’s map, Hapo’s knowledge as a miner and explorer of this place, and the Translator’s abilities to understand even exoteric alphabets and ancient dialects, they are a team uniquely-suited to making the most of this narrow window of opportunity.

[Three probabilities being rolled...Loot chance[/spoiler] Interruption chance ??? Chance]

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>>5311181

You wait impatiently, tail-spade smacking with latent anxiety at the volcanic rock beneath you. The kobolds and your remaining fire-lizards wait likewise. Your gaze flits every so often from the path your intellectuals and their guide followed upwards, into the rooms adjoining this rookery-turned-tomb. You imagine you hear sounds of their return, and prepare to leave more than once… But, no, they take what seems to you like an altogether reckless amount of time.

…Perhaps that’s just because the rest of your time, your eyes—and your sixth sense—are settled firmly upon that dark passage into the deeper depths beyond, and the adjoining underdark. Every now and then, a chill wind wafts through the hole the barbed devils made, and you recall the deathly chill you experienced in your premonition.

>86 for interruption (NO interruption)

As much as you were dreading and anticipating an interruption, none comes. No dark devil-captain rises up from the unknown to meet you. You’re almost, ALMOST, disappointed… But mostly relieved. You are holding up remarkably well, you’d say, but the kobolds tremble with exhaustion and exertion. You have driven them hard—marching for almost a full day, with only a short rest earlier and now this tense period of unrestful waiting to break it up. The fire-lizards, lacking the self-awareness to dread the future, are the only ones among you who seem at ease.

>96 for loot (EXCELLENT finds)
When the Cartographer and the Translator return, they are, full of exhilaration and… Something else. Their packs look heavy, and their arms are full of books, scrolls, and rune-scribed tablets and slabs.

“It was intact!” the Cartographer gasps. “I knew it would be tehre, hoped we’d find something, but… But…”

“It was entirely intact!” the Translator exclaims, almost giddy, tail lashing and throat vibrating with a delighted rattling. “The library of the ancients, intended for the instruction of young dragon princelings and their high priesthood! Histories, books of political theory, star-charts, theological treatises written when gods walked the earth…”

“…Political maps, resource maps, biological analyses, alchemical recipes, books on magical theory!”

“Everything,” the Translator finishes, interrupting the Cartographer, who doesn’t seem to mind.

It is a lot to take in—an ASTONISHING find, and a great, GREAT boon for your people. You congratulate them, but it doesn’t distract you from the one thing they did NOT bring back:

“Where is Hapo?” you demand.

>1 for ??? (oh no)

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>>5311192
The two Silkscale males exchange a glance, both afraid to be the one to speak up.

You dial up the Fearsome Presence, crossing your arms, and they both avert their eyes downwards. The Translator is the one who tells you:

“We were so distracted by the magnificence of our discovery, so eager to catalogue everything and to acquire the most valuable… For the expedition, for the glory of all Reptilekind…”

“You failed to keep an eye on him,” you conclude. “He vanished when you weren’t looking.”

The silence which follows is all the answer you need.

“And the demon’s name?” you ask.

The Cartographer clears his throat, and admits what you suspected: the stack of books which were dedicated to arts demonological were there one moment, and then they were gone.

“Gone,” you mutter, “with Hapo, who stole them.”

“He is just a one-armed kobold with delusions of grandeur,” the Translator scoffs, before ashamedly demurring himself to you once more when you turn your glare upon him. “His demonic patron remains trapped within a ring, Superior One, within a box, within your pack. He is a foolish little runaway slave, doomed to die here…”

“…With his stolen knowledge” the Cartographer whispers, a touch bitterly.

It’s clear to you that neither of these learned males considers Hapo a threat, at least, but rather laments the loss of the tomes and scrolls he absconded with.

What do YOU think?
>Hapo cannot be left to his own devices down here, cavorting with demons in the dark—you will use <Guidance> to find him, and kill him
>Leave, now, and let this place be Hapo’s tomb as it was for the dragon eggs, as it is for the barbed devils
>Use <Earth Tremor> to seal this place, and to bury any foolish kobold or devil who tarries too long in it—if your foes wish this ruin for their own, or a path to the surface, you shall make them WORK for it
>Write-in

>>5311193
>Leave, now, and let this place be Hapo’s tomb as it was for the dragon eggs, as it is for the barbed devils

Fuck it he doesn't have the Demon. Let's just fucking go we've spent too much time here.

>>5311193
Okay, great, we got ourselves a recurring antagonist... let's destroy this ring ASAP before it gets stolen back in the middle of the night.

>Use <Earth Tremor> to seal this place, and to bury any foolish kobold or devil who tarries too long in it—if your foes wish this ruin for their own, or a path to the surface, you shall make them WORK for it

I also support leaving if that gets more votes.

>>5311193
>Use <Earth Tremor> to seal this place, and to bury any foolish kobold or devil who tarries too long in it—if your foes wish this ruin for their own, or a path to the surface, you shall make them WORK for it

>>5311193
>Use <Earth Tremor> to seal this place, and to bury any foolish kobold or devil who tarries too long in it—if your foes wish this ruin for their own, or a path to the surface, you shall make them WORK for it

What was once buried shall be again

>>5311193
>Use <Earth Tremor> to seal this place, and to bury any foolish kobold or devil who tarries too long in it—if your foes wish this ruin for their own, or a path to the surface, you shall make them WORK for it

>>5311193
>Leave, now, and let this place be Hapo’s tomb as it was for the dragon eggs, as it is for the barbed devils

Please don’t destroy the dragon holy site

I'm catching up to the quest. Why not kill the bug people and the broodmother?

>>5311279
>muh diplomancy

>>5311193
>Hapo cannot be left to his own devices down here, cavorting with demons in the dark—you will use <Guidance> to find him, and kill him
Time to end this nigga. The oldfags know that to truely get rid of a problem, you have to kill a motherfucker.

>>5311279
Dark God solidarity, I imagine. We should talk to the Dragon Mother after this btw, get her input on all of this.

>>5311293
Changing my vote from >>5311212 to this.
How many time did Zivic came back? Not a shadow of a chance shall be let to demons or occultists.

>>5311193
>Hapo cannot be left to his own devices down here, cavorting with demons in the dark—you will use <Guidance> to find him, and kill him
No loose ends.

>>5311291
No? We could easily kill them all with dragon fire.

>>5311193
>Hapo cannot be left to his own devices down here, cavorting with demons in the dark—you will use <Guidance> to find him, and kill him
We rolled a 1 so I'm sure he's VERY likely to survive whatever we throw at him and come back later with control over that demon. Let's just clean up the mess before that bitch grows in power like the last quest...

>>5311279
what >>5311291 said
please help us kill the queen now before those schizocoomers end up sticking dragon dicks in a repulsive maggot

>>5311193
>Hapo cannot be left to his own devices down here, cavorting with demons in the dark—you will use <Guidance> to find him, and kill him
Destroying holy sites is a BAD thing

>>5311193

>Leave, now, and let this place be Hapo’s tomb as it was for the dragon eggs, as it is for the barbed devils

We shouldn't hang around here, too dangerous. Better to get home, deliver our goods, and then return here with a much larger force to secure the mountain.

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Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>5311413
>>5311408
>>5311341
>>5311312
>>5311293
>>5311240
>>5311235
>>5311213
>>5311201
>>5311196
Hapo is a dangerous loose end—THIS, you know. Demonology isn’t your forte, but you know enough (especially after your encounter with Hapo and Hako as ‘Dragonwrought’) that you are none too eager to face some occult onslaught from the world below. You’re tempted to hunt him down right now, in fact, but…

>55% of voters vote to leave

No, that’s foolhardy. Down in the darkness dwell devils, including that devil leader you foresaw. Your forces are weak and tired. And what of the eggs? The tomes of knowledge? Will you risk these discoveries—potentially game-changing for the Reptilian Conspiracy—to hunt down a single rogue kobold?

The only question is how to prevent him from returning and wreaking some misguided vengeance…

>Of these, half vote to leave after collapsing the ruins

>>5311193
>Use <Earth Tremor> to seal this place, and to bury any foolish kobold or devil who tarries too long in it—if your foes wish this ruin for their own, or a path to the surface, you shall make them WORK for it

Just seal it, don't destroy it

>>5311526
Leave a message rekinding Hako that daemons are cringe
If we can collapse the access tunnels to the important chambers without burying them, I'd support it

>>5311526
Voting to deal with Habo

>>5311527
>>5311531
Why not go kill Habo? We've already killed the demons.

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Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>5311527
>>5311531
Oh, hey, that works, too!

>>5311536
[Still outvoted slightly and also, come on, I'm mid-update.]

>>5311526
You don’t relish the thought of destroying your people’s history and legacy. This complex, or what remains of it, has been here for thousands of years, and it holds the greatness of the ancient Age for Scales! However, to give those of scalykind yet alive a chance to reclaim the surface—and under the righteous rule of true leadership, not some cloying kobold pretender—you cannot risk them falling into Hapo’s hands, OR those of the damned devils.

“Superior One, please!” the Translator begs.

“It does seem a waste,” the Cartographer notes, adding: “Speaking humbly and from a place of subservience, oh Dragonborn.”

“I will not destroy it all,” you reassure them. “Merely… A section. Enough to give the devils… And anyone else… Pause.

With a mighty stomp of your boot, and a spike of mana which sends shockwaves through the earth, you do just that: you send forth a tremor into this dead and dormant volcano, and bring stones down and magma roiling up. As you and your forces retreat, a portion of the complex—the rookery and the library wing already plundered for most or all of their value—are consumed by tectonic forces. Their secrets are locked away, in some cases forever, and an entry-point between the wider world-beneath and the mountain-home of the kobolds of Bloodrise is blocked off.

The march hope is a long one. Along the way, you stop by to retrieve injured Ohle…

>>5311536
We haven't killed any demons. We've killed a small advance party of what I want to call spiky dwarves, because the given name of barbed devils is confusing. Their leader is still out there and according to Guidance has the potential to rock our shit. Not a good risk to take with the dragon eggs and ancient knowledge we just recovered.

>>5311539
guys come on, we know where it is because of the cartographer's maps, and people had to build this place inside the volcano initially
we can always come back and UNseal it with more people with us

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>>5311539
>7

…But he is nowhere to be seen. Your kobold cohort search for him, Ivno and the others crying out his name into the dark, but no response ever comes. You eventually find the dagger you left him with, and fragments of the splint which one of the others had made for his broken arm, but this is the only clue as to his fate. It is a grim reminder that, even with the closure of that connection to the expanses of the subterranean realm, there remain dangers right here in Bloodrise proper.

In that spirit, you force your forces higher, and higher still, marching them (and even yourself) to the point of exhaustion until FINALLY you reach the more worn, lived-in caverns at the edge of the surface-world, where the kobolds of Bloodrise make their home.

In your clutches: the gifts of the past, and a promise for the future!

Running late for work, but I will continue with a post-mortem of your mission, and put up the next vote, ASAP!

Why do we use swords? Bows and arrows I can understand, but why not max out unarmed?

>>5311557
Because we got a rad relic sword and it was initially voted as backup

>>5311699
You mean the wilting elf sword made of leaves?

>>5311557
>>5311709
because we're a dragon who likes D100 things and not a fisting troglodyte

>>5311732
I do not understand. I still have catching up to do though. I figured the bigger we get, the less frequently we'll need to use weapons and rely more on our claws due to less weapon swinging room. Kind of like the issue our big green dragonborn brother suffers through. It would be ideal to get a head start on unarmed proficiency for when we're older. Plus our claws are plenty shark right? Good for piercing and rending flesh, or relying on our bare knuckles like natural cestus's.

>>5311550
Also been thinking. The jump ability. Can it only allow vertical lift? Can it aid in running jumps? Perpendicular jumps? Horizontal leaps? Dashing?

>>5311759
>Can you <Jump> horizontally and diagonally
[Yes.]

>Swords
[You have a normal metal elf-sword in a leafweave sheathe, plus a moon-sword made of untanished white stone.]

>>5311813
Why did we collapse the entrance to the secret lizard library? Are we gonna come back with a bunch of Kobolds to excavate everything, then haul it back to the forward base/home?
Can we "romance" (or the lizard people equivalent of that" Novice?
Is hand holding with outer lizard folk weird? Lewd even?
Can we duel wild the MELF and MOON swords?
Are silkscales the twins of Lizardpeople society?

>>5312031
>Why collapse?
[The library was intended for the education of young dragons, and was adjacent to the rookery, where the barbed devils were entering through. It's also the last-known location of Hapo. In trying to interprwt a fairly close vote whwre the slim majority wanted to leave, a notable plurality wanted to end the threat of Hapo, and a good chunk of thsoe who eanted to leave also wanted to seal the ruins with Earth Tremor (but ideally not irreversibly destroy this monument to Reptilian heritage) I chose that as a middle path: aiming Earth Tremor to destroy and seal the areas where you had been, and taken most thjngs of value, while leaving the rest intact and MAYBE trapping or killing Hapo.]

>Can we excavate?
[Yep, but it'll be slower going to dig it up than it was to bury it.]

>Romancing the Novice
[Entirely doable, if you do it right.]

>Is holding hands weird to reptoids?
[By human standards, they are all touch-averse sociopaths with little to no sex drive. You're a little different, being a human hybrid. Same with the Degenerates, for the same reason. Kobolds are a bit different from the 'Master Race' in this regard, too. Simple gestures of affection and romance are likely to be interpreted as weakness, corruption, or a ploy... But the Novice, at least, DOES understand that you have a somewhat mammalian social and sexual drive. If you want to hold hands, cuddle, and coom without navigating a web of social conventions and seasonal hormonal fluctuations, you might be better served by an elf, a kobold, or a glowworm, but your call.]

>Can we dual wield?
[Yeah, but you're not very practiced at it.]

>Are silkscales twins?
[I'm not aure I understand the question. Silkscales, Steeltalons, the Dragonblooded, and Serpent Priests are the three main castes/clans of the Reptilian Master Race. Silkscales are lithe, lean, agile, and clever. The Steeltalons are direct, powerful, aggressive, and powerfully-built. The Dragonblooded are red-skinned, treated like nobility, and they breathe and reist fire. The Serpent Priests are tall, have long necks, are skilled in magic, and are essentially theocratic rulers of the society. They're all quite inbred and dissuaded from interbreeding to keep their groups distinct adnd uniquely useful for their own roles, which has become a matter of cultural convention over the aeons.]

[Posting soon! On my way home now.]

[Roomie called a pizza and movie, will post after!]

>>5312213
Silkscales = twinks
Even the males. PHAT. ASS.

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>>5311550
When you return to the kobold encampment—realistically, more of a village, but they have lived apart form this place for so long, among their stolen human amenities, that it requires great rebuilding—it is to a heroes’ welcome. Sadly, much of this welcome is not for you, but for your kobold minions. They are welcomed with open arms by the comrades they left behind, by females, by hatchlings. It is… Unsettling, to see such camaraderie and physical proximity in a reptilian race. They do not embrace, per se, but they clasp arms at times, they chatter excitedly amongst one another, they have clear… Bonds, beyond strategic alliance.

“Undignified,” the Translator notes.

“Slaves,” the Cartographer says, with a shrug.

The kobolds snap to attention and quickly assume a more rigid and proper deference when The bastard merges from an adjacent tunnel. He bows his head low, and the kobolds you tasked him with corralling and marshalling do likewise.

“I was gone only twenty-four hours!” you remark. “How did you manage such discipline?”

The Bastard looks surprised, and is uncertain how to reply. Under your expectant eye, though, he explains that you were gone for almost two whole days.

Well, THAT explains your exhaustion. You, as with all your race, have always had a natural talent for telling time below-ground, however. You are uncertain how you lost track… Perhaps an anomaly caused by the magic of the region? Maybe it was just the thrill of the battle, for that matter—you’re certainly tarting to feel it now.

“The Infiltrators, are they back yet?” you ask wearily.

The Bastard shakes his head.

“They have another day or two in which to make their return journey,” he says. “then, we will learn something of the local humans, and what to expect of them.”

You nod.

“And you, Superior One?” he asks, though you know he has seen the eggs extracted, and the full packs of your scholars.

You tilt your chin up proudly.

“A full success,” you say, “with only acceptable losses.”

The Bastard seems concerned when you tell him of the skirmish with the barbed devils (“Not true devils!” you tell him. “Perhaps a spiny race of dwarves?”), and doubly so when you tell him of Hapo.

“A persistent wretch, that one. Too stubborn to die. Twice over now, he survives you!”

You give him a stern look, and the Bastard looks downwards… But you sigh. He isn’t wrong.

“they will bother us no time in the near future,” you say. “The kobold may even be dead.”

“One can hope,” he replies.

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>>5312376
Your PERSONAL hero’s welcome comes when you return to the cavern-chamber where the Novice Fleshweaver has set up her mobile laboratory. There, she works tirelessly—as you did, you suppose—on her analysis and manipulation of the tissues of a mostly-mummified dragon hatchling, previously the catalyst for the deceitful ‘Dragonwrought’ transformation of Hako and lost-below Hapo. When he present to her the eggs, she practically falls upon them in giddy worship. No—it’s not worship. It’s secular and sinister in equal measures. She has the excitement of an exploiter born.

“Some things never change,” you note wryly. “Will you even thank your returning conqueror for his hard-won prizes?”

She hisses irritably, and replies: “You do your job, and I will do mine. I do not recall you singing MY praises, for MY triumphs!”

Glowie, at least, is predictably happy to see you. Though a massive, barely-anthropomorphic glow-worm in truth, she yet wears the Amulet of Disguise which grants her Reptilian guise: a slightly-distorted and modified version of the Novice’s own appearance, thickened in rear and tail to accommodate-by-proxy the worm-woman’s much larger back-half, which normally houses a dozen wriggling, peg-like legs. As it is, it just means that her embrace involves a long, thick tail coiled around you.

“What triumphs?” you ask the Novice, gently pushing Glowie away. You note that her skin looks… More authentic, more convincing up-close, and that her divergence from the Novice has grown more pronounced. The feel of her pliable, fleshy body beneath your claws is…

“Well, for one thing, I have further developed the worm’s Amulet of Disguise—quite applicable to disguising YOUR bizarre and unconventional form as well, oh Degenerateborn Quasi-Dragon.”

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>>5312414
Though she never denigrates you in such terms in public, for fear of her own status or respect for your inviting her on this expedition to begin with, the Novice is one of the scant few being alive privy to the secret of your birth. She alone, among all your retinue, knows you are no TRUE Dragonborn, but a heavily-modified human-Dragonblood-Silkscale mongrel, cooked up by a Degenerate half-human Infiltrator. It is, as she notes, one reason why conventional disguise spells have never worked well on you.

“You’re saying you can modify my form?” you ask. “Into… What?”

The Novice Fleshweaver hesitates, and you realize (with amusement AND annoyance) that she ahs overstated her case.

“I BELIEVE,” she says, “that I have devised a means to… Modify your appearance somewhat, yes. The theory, which is STILL being tested, is that through proper application of the Amulets, with MY advanced and prodigious Fleshweaving talents, I can create a amulet which does not merely DISGUISE, but which TARSNFORMS. An… Amulet of Elfshape, say, using the abundance of genetic material I gathered at our ‘diplomatic summit’.”

The Novice puts disparaging influence on the last two words. Not for the first time, you wonder if this female Serpent Priest, who so bullied you a short decade ago when you were both young, is JEALOUS of the time you spent alone with the dark elf leader Jazkarmel.

“Unless you can shrink me three or four feet in height, I doubt I would pass for one of the Drow,” you note.

“Skeptic! Small-minded One!” the Novice spits, then sighs. “But… Not incorrect. You would be a titanic elf… But for one such as me, or one of our Silkscale allies? It could be useful, if we wish to infiltrate their race more properly. And with a few abduction from the towns below… Or with what samples our Merchants and the Degenerate may bring back...”

“I see the potential,” you admit. “THEORETICALLY.”

“Do you?” the Novice asks, narrowing her eyes smugly.

You sigh, and tell her to spit it out.

“You have brought back DRAGON materials!” she exclaims, gesturing to the eggs again.

Your eyes widen.

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>>5312420
“I have studied the dragon MOST of all, PER your instructions oh Champion. I cannot make one such as you—or myself, for that matter—into a true dragon. But…”

“…But?” you ask, hating yourself for falling for this self-proclaimed prodigy’s game of self-aggrandizing call-and-response, but unable to bear the suspense.

“BUT,” she says, crossing her arms and forcing her tail not to lash with glee, “I think I can IMBUSE you with something of their essence, to make your ‘Dargonshape’ more permanent… More controlled!”

You imagine it: no more pinkish-brown tinge to your scales, no more hair in unusual places. A dragon, armoured, proud, tall and mighty, your Fearsome Presence a herald to your approach wherever you go!

“I might even be able to grow you some wings,” she whispers.

Your heart hammers. You’ve always dreamed of flying.

“The Dragonborn is going to moult! Metamorphose! Become brood-queen!”

You look at Glowie, hands clasped and body wiggling rhythmically in delight, and she corrects herself:

“King. Queen-equivalent. Sorry!” she smiles. “One king, one queen.”

You cough, turning away and trying to ignore the desirous bug-woman’s implication.

“What’s the catch?” you ask.

The Novice frowns and looks away.

“There are… Potential complications. And each attempt at this uses up some draconic material.”

“And the others of our race would regard it as sacrilege,” you note.

“Hypocrites!” she cries. “Father, the Chaplain… He authorized such experiments with the Great Green Dragon\s remains!”

“By full-fledges Fleshweavers,” you note. “NOT by a renegade Novice.”

“A fresh perspective is NEEDED,” she asserts… But then, she demures.

“Maybe… It should be tested on another first, though. It would be a shame to accidentally deform or destroy such a… UNIQUE specimen as yourself, False Dragonborn.”

Glowie stops swaying, and looks thoughtful, then raises her hand—volunteering.

“I was thinking a kobold,” the Novice shrugs. “Or The Bastard. He is… Like you, but lesser.”

What do you do?
>Authorize the Novice to begin testing her theories [specify on who: yourself, kobolds, the Bastard, Glowie?]
>Deny the Novice—tell her to stick to her other avenues of amulet-improvement instead
>You need to sleep on this—even pray on this—before you make a decision [divine consultation]
>These eggs and their potential are a threat to you—smash them
>Write-in

>>5312422
>Authorize the Novice to begin testing her theories [The Junior Novice]

I voted on getting him in the first place as experiment fodder. Might as well test out this likely very dangerous procedure on him first. It's not like he does anything else.

>>5312426
+1

>>5312422
>Authorize the Novice to begin testing her theories [specify on who: yourself, kobolds, the Bastard, Glowie?]
Backing Junior Novice
we're gonna make that thing the BBEG

>>5312422
>You need to sleep on this—even pray on this—before you make a decision [divine consultation]

We don't want to accidentally fleashwarp up a horrific pseudo-dragon abomination.

Besides aren't dragon eggs (even dead ones) valuable? I don't we should use in a half baked manner.

>>5312422
>These eggs and their potential are a threat to you—smash them

>>5312426
+1
Drill loyalty before too

>>5312436
+1, take time to think things through

>>5312422
>You need to sleep on this—even pray on this—before you make a decision [divine consultation]

Why not reach out and ask - there is no rush, she won’t do anything about it today

>>5312422
Supporting Frankensteining Novice Junior

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>>5312506
>>5312465
>>5312457
>>5312444
>>5312439
>>5312436
>>5312433
>>5312430
You take off your helm and take a seta upon a nearby stone-and-wood bench to consider the options carefully. The Dark Gods’ guidance would be invaluable here, but... Do you really need it? And, if they offer it, will you be obliged to accept it, even if you dislike their demands? As the old saying goes, ‘The Dark Gods help those who help themselves, because the helpless are feeble and deserve to perish.’

“Test your theories,” you allow, to the Novice’s muted delight and Glowie’s rather more exuberant response.

“Some sense rattles around in that quarter-ape skull, after all!” The Novice enthuses, unable to help herself from the little dig even as she ‘thanks’ you. Her eyes linger, though, as you self-consciously run your hand through your unkempt and matted mane of hair. “Hm, maybe not much of an ape-skull at all, once I’m done with it… Almost a shame.”

“What?” you ask.

“What?” she replies, then abruptly shifts back to the topic at hand: “I’ll need a dozen kobolds, young ones preferably—ones who can ENDURE.”

It hardly seems like a good way to build loyalty, you note. She scoffs.

“They’re KOBOLDS,” she says. “It’s what they’re FOR. The worm—”

“Glowie.”

“—GLOWIE is too DIFFERENT from us for it to work. I’m still not certain how her internal structures even work! Is there a skeleton in there?”

Glowie shies away a bit under the sudden intense scrutiny you and the Novice both fix upon her. Her disguised form offers little hints as to what lies below.

“There is another option,” you say.

Slowly, all three of you turn your gaze upon the pathetic creature which the Novice has unceremoniously trapped in a wooden cage in one corner: a creature of kobold size, ALMOST kobold shape, but distinctly un-kobold nature. A bristly, mangy, pinkish and scaleless thing stares back from between the bars, at first hopeful that you are here to let it out, and then wary as the Novice starts rattling with amusement.

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>>5312525

“The ‘dog-kobold’?” she asks.

“The Junior Novice,” you correct, for you named this curious creature—acquired from a swindling Silkscale merchant back home—in her dubious ‘honour’.

The Novice crosses her arms, laughter subsiding.

“You call it my junior,” she says, “but when I ask for something suitably freakish to replicate your own form, you present it proudly. Maybe we should call it the Junior Degenerateborn?”

“Perhaps,” you reply, “You should get to work.”

The Novice clucks at you and turns away.

“PERHAPS I will,” she says. “And what of you?”

“Torpor,” you say tiredly, standing up again to seek out your quarters here—your sure have some, or can quickly demand such.

“…Alone?” Glowie asks quietly.

You pause, and…

>Bid Glowie a good rest… In her OWN quarters, while you enjoy some meditative solitude
>Allow Glowie to accompany you for (CHASTE) snuggling
>Cheekily invite the Novice, though you know she’s unlikely to accept
>Actually, on second thought, might see what the deal is with these small, rather athletically-lithe kobold females…
>Might meditate with The Bastard, and discuss the change in his aura you sensed earlier, when he was commanding the kobolds
>Write-in

>>5312530
Here's my write in :
>"You're right, Glowie. Maybe company will be good for me. Hey, Novice, do you need to torpor? That's what I thought... I'll go meditate"

>Might meditate with The Bastard, and discuss the change in his aura you sensed earlier, when he was commanding the kobolds
>On the extremely edge case Novice accept, be dumbstrucked.

>>5312530
>Actually, on second thought, might see what the deal is with these small, rather athletically-lithe kobold females…
After
>"You're right, Glowie. Maybe company will be good for me. Hey, Novice, do you need to torpor? That's what I thought... I'll go meditate"
I’m still curious about our new kobold subjects.

>>5312530
>Cheekily invite the Novice, though you know she’s unlikely to accept
>Might meditate with The Bastard, and discuss the change in his aura you sensed earlier, when he was commanding the kobolds

>>5312536
Support

What IS the deal with these kobolds?

>>5312530
Jesus christ, we need to get rid of Glowie as soon as possible. This isn't cute anymore.

>>5312534
+1

>>5312422
>“A persistent wretch, that one. Too stubborn to die. Twice over now, he survives you!”
He only lives because we allow it.

>You need to sleep on this—even pray on this—before you make a decision [divine consultation]
>Write-in
Consider waiting for a few more days, or maybe a week for us to learn some more flesh weaving. Perhaps we can help.

>>5312530
>Actually, on second thought, might see what the deal is with these small, rather athletically-lithe kobold females…
>Might meditate with The Bastard, and discuss the change in his aura you sensed earlier, when he was commanding the kobolds

>>5312534
>>5312536
>>5312560
Wait so sleep with Glowie? Why?

>>5312573
Not at all. We bait glowie, rebuke her by saying we prefer the real novice, then go meditate

>>5312530
>Cheekily invite the Novice, though you know she’s unlikely to accept
>Might meditate with The Bastard, and discuss the change in his aura you sensed earlier, when he was commanding the kobolds
>Actually, on second thought, might see what the deal is with these small, rather athletically-lithe kobold females…

Why do a complete 180 in personality and start being a dick to Glowie for no reason.

>>5312580
>>5312592
Wait, was that the implication? I thought we were inviting both to torpor with us.

>>5312601
I think a lot of anons thought that but no it’s definitely a dig at Glowie. For absolutely no reason too.

>>5312609
Then lets not do the dig at Glowie option. I know shes our friend and all, but let's not get weird and fuck the bug.

>>5312609
>>5312617
I don’t understand why’d it’d suddenly be interpreted as OOC mean spirited, but if that’s the case I want to make it clear that I intended to invite both to torpor with us, not intentionally snub Glowie.

>>5312620
Why invite both? Glowie and Novice had plenty of time to sleep, while we have not. Novice seems to want to put in the research from the dragon eggs, and Glowie is.....Glowie. Plus I think our guy needs to bet his meat behind a tree to take care of his hormones for a bit. Like alone.

>>5312623
Hmm.....what if, no maybe not that. Social etiquette and ruined standing and all that. Fucking kobolds is a bad idea.

>>5312534
Backlinking my IP >>5312580
It was intended as a lil bit on trolling on glowie. I want to be mean on that with her because consent is important.

>>5312620
I would like to be clear that I did not intend this and I definitely want to intentionally snub Glowie. If that's too confusing I just want to meditate alone/with the Bastard.

>>5312592
>Why do a complete 180 in personality and start being a dick to Glowie for no reason.
She stopped being cute and started being creepy and horny.

>>5312630
I noticed that sorta too. Perhaps it would be a good idea to discuss this with her, about her apparent horniness and how she should probably find another mate. In like, a very polite manner.

>>5312530
Changing my vote >>5312560 to
>Actually, on second thought, might see what the deal is with these small, rather athletically-lithe kobold females…
>Allow Glowie to accompany you for (CHASTE) snuggling
>Cheekily invite the Novice, though you know she’s unlikely to accept
Fuck the 180 OOC snub.

>>5312643
>OOC
It's literally the start of Thread 2. I strongly disagree that anything we do (short of rejecting the literal premise of the quest) is incapable of being naturally incorporated into our newborn MC, and if the QM disagrees he is welcome to veto.

>>5312643
I fear the snuggling will lead to degeneracy, lick fucking the bug. Tis one of my fears.
I would be less afraid, were it possible to turn Glowie into a 100% lizard.

>>5312630
Its honestly probably in in part because of MC being super pent up sexually, she can feel the effects of the "Royal Command" whose to say she cant feel the effects of repressed hormones if she can use our dna, that isnt to say that it wont provide us with a bonus for if we continue on our no nut shaman route, pure concentration on focusing on ignoring whores and aquiring hoard, very dragonlike and makes the bitches beg for our dick when the time is finally does come

>>5312650
Maybe there is a way to turn her into 100% Lizard, would have to talk with Dragon Mother though. Also, I think the (CHASTE) part indicates that it won’t lead to degeneracy.

You know, I was digging the cute imouto Glowie in the beginning.

>>5312530
>>5312534
+2

>>5312655
I mean, possibly, but it doesn't make me like her any better.

>>5312674
>Also, I think the (CHASTE) part indicates that it won’t lead to degeneracy.
I think this represents the MC's original intentions, but if you don't think Glowie won't try to turn it into spooning you're ridiculous.

>You know, I was digging the cute imouto Glowie in the beginning.
Me too :(

>>5312536
Change the
>"You're right, Glowie
Vote to
>Allow Glowie to accompany you for (UNCHASTE) snuggling, and invite the Novice as well
Fuck da haters

>>5312530
>Might meditate with The Bastard, and discuss the change in his aura you sensed earlier, when he was commanding the kobolds

>>5312530
>Bid Glowie a good rest… In her OWN quarters, while you enjoy some meditative solitude
>Cheekily invite the Novice, though you know she’s unlikely to accept
Could we please be cheeky to novice and then go meditate on what we have found, the deeds we have commited and advancement on dragon?
Yes, I'm a /fit/ard

>>5312530
>Allow Glowie to accompany you for (UNCHASTE) snuggling, and invite the Novice as well
>Actually, on second thought, might see what the deal is with these small, rather athletically-lithe kobold females…

>>5312623
Just to spend some time with them.

>>5312624
Didn’t Big Bro have a kobold harem that tended to his every whim? Sort of makes me hungry for some meat actually.

>>5312713
If I recall correctly, big bro has a silkscale harem, kobolds are probably too far down the social hierarchy

>>5312721
Was it Silkscales? That would make more sense I guess, it’s not like they’d be a harem of Steeltalons, right?

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Rolled 12, 8, 10, 5, 12 = 47 (5d20)

>>5312706
>>5312699
>>5312695
>>5312690
>>5312683
>>5312677
>>5312643
>>5312592
>>5312573
>>5312570
>>5312560
>>5312538
>>5312534
You are too tired, and too conflicted, to let <appetite> move you to degeneracy. Still…

“You are right, Glowie. Maybe company will be good for me.”

Glowie’s eyes widen slightly, and she starts to stand.

“Hey, Novice Fleshweaver, do you need torpor? You are welcome to join me.”

The Novice flinches, and then turs around to stare at you in shock.

“Do not take liberties, or make assumptions, ‘Dragonborn’, simply because I GRACIOUSLY deigned to share my quarters with you. It is YOU, not ME, which is perpetually in-season!”

You stifle a laugh at her over-the-top denial. You’ve flustered her—a rare turnabout of her usual teasing.

“That's what I thought... I'll go meditate with the Bastard.”

The Novice returns to her word, body language speaking to great irritation and disruption. Her head is bowed over her work bench, her tail twitching and clawed foot tapping agitatedly.

Glowie stares after you, still half-risen, as she was when you jokingly approved of her (you suspect decidedly unchaste) idea. Her expression and body language are… Difficult for you to read, uncanny despite her reptilian guise, but you think she might be… Sad? What is going on with her?

You turn your attentions to meditation, decompressing from your recent adventure in the mountain-depths. The Bastard joins you, and guide you to the ‘room’ of this warren-like complex of manually-widened natural caverns and crevices which will serve as quarters for the two of you commanding, quasi-draconic males of the Master Race. As you meditate together, you confirm what you had earlier sensed was no fluke: the Bastard’s aura of dragonliness has grown, strengthened in your time apart.

“It has?” he asks, surprised. “I supposes… Maybe it is the leadership role? The commanding of kobolds? It does feel… Right, somehow. Natural.”

Hm. Curious. Dominion and domination of lesser reptiles IS part-and-parcel to dragonhood. Maybe, to grow his confidence and to bolster his dragon-soul, more leadership opportunities are what is required? As a youth less than two decades of age, ‘mentoring’ this older, clanless assassin is an odd prospect, but you suppose that is YOUR role as the most-dominant…