The party debates long into the night while the Ranger keeps his assignment. The metaphysics of a calm and orderly realm seem to outweigh the evil of a Yellow sorceress and dragon. Should the party even intervene here? While freedom is a distant memory, and anyone who steps out of line is crushed, their are no wars or raids. Violent death can be avoided by submission, which is not an option in much of the world.
However, they eventually decide to follow up on Alys's tip, on the theory that if there is a way to defeat the dragon, best that they have it and not some worse power. After all, a kingdom ruled by hejerne-spica would not be employ cruelty as a tool to maintain order, but merely as entertainment.
Thus, they slip out in the wee hours. The city never sleeps, since half its population is goblin; the harbormaster wants to see their tax stamp before they go, but their captain shows that the barrels of cinnamon have been replaced by barrels of winter wine, a reciprocal gift from the Queen. They set out to sea, seemingly free and clear of the Golden Queen and her plots.
But the second night out, the Barbarian suddenly smells smoke. He rips the hatch open and dodges a gout of flame. The alcohol is on fire! The Druid instantly quenches the flames, but the damage is done: the boat is sinking. The Druid makes lifeboats out of the deck of the ship while the Cleric questions the burnt corpse found in the hull. One of their crewmen had been turned by the Queen and her formidable charms. He set the fire, thinking it would trigger his rescue. Instead he died in pain.
The crew piles into one boat, the party in another, and both head for shore twenty miles away. They get a hundred feet before water elementals attack and sink both boats.
Two elementals are no real threat to our heroes, even in the depths of the ocean; spells and swords soon do for them. Then two more attack, having already dispatched the ship's crew. These also die without much effort, but it leaves the party slowly sinking in the dark sea.
First the Cleric casts water-walking on the Druid Bear. The Wizard rides the bear, while the rest of the party cling to the floating discs behind the Wizard. When the water-walking spell runs out, the Bard summons a magical steed for the Wizard, and they race over the tops of the waves to shore.
Finally, as day breaks, they spot the air elemental that has been tracking them. Their destination lays twenty miles over water under the very nose of the dragon, or a hundred miles over land skirting the beast's lair. They choose speed. Mounting magical steeds, they race across the water, seeming to escape the notice of the monster by sheer speed.
A volcano lies before them, with sheer walls two thousand feet high. Thanks to a variety of magic, they climb and float to the top without incident - though the Barbarian would have fallen once or twice without the Bard's helping hand.
Here they view the caldera of the volcano, two thousand feet below. The smoke and fumes are fatal to the weak; the Bard must protect himself and the Wizard with magic, while the rest of the party can get by with just wet cloths across their face. The Ranger spots a narrow trail, thus obviating the need for climbing checks, and the party proceeds down.
Their first encounter is a simple stream of lava. Leaping over it is a trivial exercise, aside from the fact that failing would be almost certain death. Again magic comes to the rescue, in the form of the rarely used Jump spell.
The next stream of lava moves underneath the Ranger as he leaps it, because it's not actually lava. A group of odd creatures in the form of small pools of lava spring their ambush, but it is instantly obliterated by the Druid casting Quench, this powerful spell proving invaluable once again.
A cave entrance turns out to be merely a trap, with a dozen fire and magma creatures getting off a single Scorching Ray spell before the Barbarian and Ranger exterminate them all with cleaving swords and machine gun bows. The spell-casters are starting to consider the value of conserving their magic for greater threats.
Which immediately comes in the form of a dozen huge fire elementals. Rushing upon the party out of the thick ash and smoke, they gain initiative, which proves terrifying. The Wizard, Cleric, and Bard are pummeled to within an inch of their lives before they can put up energy shields. The Ranger valiantly fires arrows, but soon needs healing as well.
The entire encounter would have gone badly, save for the Druid spam-casting the Quench spell and reducing the elementals to single-digit hit points. Once weakened, the Barbarian and Ranger can dispatch the monsters, with a little help from the Bard, who casts a freezing shield and then recklessly triggers attacks against himself while the feedback effect destroys the elementals.
Now the party has reached the caldera floor, and is preparing to face the real dangers of the first layer of the Necropolis.
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