Longtooth devours the fake image of Krask while the real kobold looks on in horror. Will this be his fate? Torn limb from fragile limb?
While he observes, Krask realizes that the dragon is smaller than he remembers. And although he can’t make out the imagery etched into the amulet, Krask still can’t place what’s making him so uneasy.
Fyn begins casting a summoning spell while Krask tries to use his Medusa Mask on the dragon. It’s a long shot that it’ll even work, but he feels like he needs to pull all the stops before resorting to his bow. It comes sooooo close to working, except that Longtooth’s Spell Resistance repels the iridescent beam.
But not before a tedious half-hour deep-dive into the Pathfinder rules to be sure that the ruling was correct, as only the Spell Resistance could save the dragon. Nevertheless, we got it right!
Back to the Action!
Still facing an animated (read: non-stone) dragon, Barnaby hops up onto the roof of the nearby building and becomes visible again. He doesn’t do this for kicks; he lashes out at Longtooth, nearly losing his balance in the process.
Trace and Fobias encircle the dragon from opposite sides. Since the dragon is inherently evil, Trace relies on Inheritor’s Smite to dish out some damage, while Fobias drops the bow and strikes out with his formidable spear.
Unfortunately, the party’s tactics set-up the dragon perfectly for his breath weapon. Longtooth takes to the skies, momentarily, repositioning onto the roof next door before unleashing a terrible plume of flame at Trace, Barnaby, and Fobias.
Trace barely dives out of the way, but the fiery hellstorm badly singes the other two heroes. On the positive side, the stoneskin absorbs a chunk of the damage, meaning that the results could have been much worse.
Just then, Longtooth is temporarily distracted by a giant peacock that charges from behind, courtesy of Fyn. Longtooth’s Spell Resistance thwarts another spell, this time blocking Fyn’s Cone of Cold, as the dragon lashes out a devastating flurry of blows with claws, wings, tail, and mouth. The peacock did not survive.
Eventually the party’s martial weapons win the day, and the dragon falls from the roof to the sandy ground with a satisfying thud. Krask runs up and stabs the lifeless corpse multiple times, breaking off the long, gnarly tooth in the process.
Things Aren’t As They Seem
The tooth, however, isn’t much of a tooth at all. Instead, it is a hollow shell that was attached over the top of a regular, smaller tooth. Stranger still, the dragon is covered in scars and dyes that creates the illusion of this being Brindrisdrin, but clearly it is not the dragon from Krask’s past.
This does nothing but amplify the kobold’s fears.
Fyn correctly identifies the amulet as capable of projecting another being’s voice, meaning that the dragon sounded like the real McCoy, but that’s where the comparisons end. Fobias hacks off the head, but not before Krask stabs a dagger into the false-dragon’s eye.
Sheriff Hemlock rides up, somewhat charred and covered in blood. He sends an abbreviated battalion of militia to chase off the retreating stone giants before seeing the dragon dead at the feet of our heroes. Regaling their praises, Hemlock takes a breather from the battle.
He can’t rest long, however, as a soldier comes running down the path, shouting about a stone giant prisoner. As it turns out, the final stone giant from the northern gates is tied up and awaiting interrogation.
The party hurries north, stopping to gather some loot along the way. Priorities, amirite?
Good Cop, Bad Cop
It quickly becomes clear that the stone giant is going to be relatively uncooperative. He is belligerent and insulting. Despite Fobias and Barnaby’s convincing good-cop, bad-cop routine, the stone giant isn’t talking. Even after Fyn enlarges Fobias to make him more threatening, the stone giant refuses to speak.
Eventually, the giant agrees to spill the beans on Mokmurian if Fobias can best him in a bout of fisticuffs. Fobias agrees and knocks out the giant with a single punch.
Here’s what the party learns:
Mokmurian is at Jorgenfist, amassing his army of giants, trolls, and ogres. Sandpoint was only one of several targets on Mokmurian’s secret mission. Ultimately, he was searching for a stone from the Old Light in Sandpoint, hoping to tap into the stone giant elders’ abilities to read the history of the stone.
Besides learning the precise location of Jorgenfist, the party also finds out that the Bloodless were supposed to join in on the assault, but never showed up. Is this due to the party’s involvement with Garitran? Perhaps time will tell…
Lastly, Longtooth had always gone by that name, so long as the stone giants had known him at least. At the same time, Brindrisdrin was this dragon’s master, meaning that it was definitely an imposter.
The party levels up to 11! They also keep with tradition by letting the stone giant live out his humiliating days as a hermit.
Yeah right.
How much of Mokmurian’s army resides at Jorgenfist? Why would Brindrisdrin use a decoy dragon? Do you really believe that stone giant’s dad was named Sinbad?