The party learns the name of this hungry skulk: Morgiv. He seems to be slightly apprehensive and cautious, but is generally forthcoming with the party’s questions. It helps that Trace is leading the diplomatic questioning.
Morgiv is part of the Spared, a group of skulks that were driven out from the surface of Xin-Shalast at the fall of Thassilon. At the same time, they are separate from the vampiric skulks that are under the Hidden Beast’s thrall. In a way, they are wanderers without a true home, lacking a feeling of safety.
The Spared follow the prophecy of Mesmina, a powerful cleric of Lissala that shrugged off her allegiance to Karzoug during the fall of Thassilon. Apparently, she prophesized that one day the Spared would be freed from their slavery by a group of strangers. Over time, the Spared have depicted version of this prophecy on the tunnel walls. Are our heroes the ones foretold in the prophecy?
After a much-needed rest, the party prepares for the fight against the Hidden Beast. They agree to help the Spared with their plight if the Spared can assist them in navigating the tunnels towards the other end of the city. There is a lot of apprehension about traveling above ground with the giant camp so close.
Morgiv shares that it has been many years since he’s encountered the Hidden Beast, and he’s noticed a distinct lack of the vampiric skulks around in more recent times. From his understanding, the Hidden Beast uses mind magic to ensnare the skulks to do his bidding. The party uses this knowledge as they prepare to confront this otherworldly creature.
They head through the tunnels.
The Hidden Beast
The tunnel opens into a large room, a cyst in the earth under the weight of the buried city formed by some ancient basement gallery, with an extended central ceiling stretching up into the darkness. From your vantage point, you see the edge of a massive chandelier hanging down.
A raised balcony to the northwest is accessed by two stairs and has a low stone balustrade.
Pillars along the room’s perimeter rise to a vaulted ceiling, while in the center of the room sits a dais holding an ornate throne.
Discarded along the floor lies a skeletal figure shrouded in musty robes bearing arcane symbols, joining several other disassembled bones littering the stone floor.
Sprawled across the throne is an undulating mass of thick, swampy tentacles. They all stretch and connect to a purple mound of fleshy scales, marked with a wide mouth of sharp, needle-like teeth dripping with ooze.
The party hears a voice, speaking a foreign language made up of hisses, grunts, and clicks – Aklo. It is a language often described as Under-Undercommon. Fyn is able to pick up on what the creature is saying, and responds in kind.
“Thisssss issss the lair of the one they call The Hidden Beassssst. All who enter sssshalll desssspair in the anguissssh before their lives passsss on from thisssss coil.”
“Which of you would offer your blood to me?? Asssss a sssssacrifice? Ssssstep forward, and feel the embracccccce of your new lord!”
Fyn replies that the party is here to slay the Hidden Beast, and that there will be no negotiating.
And then suddenly the voice changes to Common, much deeper and more echoing, it’s completely different.
“For you have brought me the greatest gift of all. Here, as the world teeters on the edge of a knife, with my ally poised to strike out and conquer all, you bring to me the pivotal piece of my crowning achievement.”
“Gaze upwards upon it, in all of its glory. A glory that pales in comparison only to that of Brindisdrin, the Unmaker.”
And as they now have a better view into the room, the party can see that the chandelier is made of an assortment of bones. As this voice booms and echoes through the room, the bones clatter together in an eerie reverberation.
“There is a space reserved for the one who stole from me. For the one who betrayed his clan, for their blood flowed because of him. The Deserter. Krask.”
And the pile of tentacles is shrugged to the side and slides off the central dais, as a gargantuan figures suddenly appears. The torchlight reflects off the metallic body of Longtooth as the fearsome dragon coils up and unfurls his wings in angular fury.
“BEHOLD THE TRUE HIDDEN BEAST. WATCHER OF THE UNDERCITY, AND COMMANDER OF THE IRON FLEET. AND IN MY NEAR INFINITE POWER, I SENTENCE THE DESERTER TO DEATH! CHILDREN, UPHOLD MY WILL.”
Longtooth lets out a deafening roar as you see two draconic shapes emerge from the passageways to the north and west. They join in with roars of their own, and the Bone Chimes clatter with the grim prophecy of death.
The Battle with Longtooth
Faced with the challenge of fighting not one, not two, but THREE dragons at once, the party is momentarily on their heels. Immediately, they are accosted with the burning flames of the younger red dragon. Krask and Barnaby are invisible, while Fobias and Richard lead the charge to engage these monsters. Fobias also casts a spell, which comes in handy a little bit later.
With the red dragon in front of Longtooth, who casts a Displacement spell on himself, Krask aims at the closer target. He has a few special arrows specifically designed for this encounter, but he’s saving them for Longtooth.
Barnaby also rushes up, stabbing at the red dragon with his scimitar and inflicting heavy wounds. It’s a really good start to what is proving to be a dangerous battle. On any given turn, any of the party could fall.
Fyn heads into the room, thinking of the learning and study he did with the turtle that was formerly a dragon. And suddenly, he begins to transform, metallic scales erupting over his body and wings unfurling until he stands as a silver dragon. FOUR DRAGONS!
Knowing how much this encounter means to Krask, Trace casts a prayer that allows Krask to Smite Evil. These buffs keep stacking, priming the kobold for a mighty strike against his nemesis.
The red dragon turns their attention to Fobias, who is within full-round attack range. Fortunately, Fobias’ spell kicks in with the first attack, and a swarm of wasps emerge from his body to sting the dragon. It’s enough to kill the young dragon, who was probably allergic.
Longtooth, furious, unleashes a breath weapon of his own. It catches the entire party in its cone, but once again the party is incredibly evasive. Richard isn’t so lucky, and the wolf bounds back down the tunnel to guard a trembling Morgiv.
Fobias shapes a wall of stone to help protect the party from more direct breath attacks, but still opts to put himself heroically in the line of fire. Meanwhile, Krask steps to the side and hits Longtooth with one of his dragon-slaying arrows, bypassing the Displacement. It isn’t enough to make much of a dent, but Krask feels courage welling inside him as he issues Longtooth a verbal challenge.
Dragon-Fyn flies up and blasts cold energy at Longtooth. Unfortunately, it seems that Longtooth has some kind of resistance up against cold damage, likely due to his inherent vulnerability. The blue dragon follows Longtooth’s orders, barreling down to crush Krask under their monumental weight. Our kobold friend somehow avoids being pinned underneath the dragon, who can sniff out his location.
But before the dragon can strike, Trace steps up and severs its scaly head.
Only Longtooth remains.
What series of events led Longtooth to Xin-Shalast? What happened to the original Hidden Beast? When Longtooth was dipped in silver, was somebody holding his ankle?