Chapter Twenty Three: Go Spell It On The Mountain

They made their way back to Krane. Chayah was surprised to discover him still standing beside his portal. “You waited? I was going to call you.” She held up her pinkie, displaying a large ruby set in a gold ring.

He looked at her fondly. “That was an awful lot of noise. Did you enjoy yourselves?”

Chayah shrugged. “It wasn’t bad. But we need to go someplace else, before we can go home. Do you mind?”

Krane shrugged. “Of course not.” She pointed to the mountain at the far side of the island.

“About half way up, if you please?” He opened them a doorway.

Just as his sister was about to happily walk through the portal, there came a metallic hiss, like a long chain being dragged across stone. Only it was louder and angrier than any chain. “Hey, wait just a moment.” The portal stopped. It became a solid, frozen piece of… fluffy, green blue and purple foam, large and oval shaped. It fell to the ground, and evaporated. It was not how a portal normally closed.

“Oh really, Krane. There’s no need to be dramatic.” Chayah folded her arms across her chest and regarded him sternly.

“What was that, young lady? Were you about to confront a Green Dragon, with only a Driole and a Troll for escorts? From your novice class?” Zuglah somewhat resented this assessment of the situation. While accurate, it did nothing for his confidence.

“Oh relax, Krane. It was hardly a Green Dragon. I have no interest in talking to one. It was just a Drake.”

“That is not better, Chayah. In fact it might be worse. Does your friend know that he won’t even be getting experience for this battle? He’s too low level. What were you thinking, bringing him? I wouldn’t have even brought the Illusionist. What good will Advancing Chances do against a raging Fire Drake?”

“Well, for one thing, Pliesson just hit bowan sazal yesterday, so I very much doubt that he had time to learn Advancing Chances.”

“I don’t even have that spell until sheyol sazal!” Pliesson said. “Besides, we’re not going to fight the Drake, Zuglah is!”

Krane stopped what he was about to say and clamped his mouth shut. He slowly turned to look at Zuglah, pursing his lips as he looked him up and down. Zuglah was positive that he caught it all. Sea striders, Watch Yer Ankles!, runestick. He said, “Are you sure that you want to do this, Zuglah Glun? While you are not unimpressive, I will admit, I simply do not see how you can accomplish such a thing.”

Zuglah shrugged. “I’ve made promises. I have to.”

Krane snorted in contempt. “Promises. To a quest-giver. You will soon learn-”

“I promised your sister.” That shut him up. Krane frowned, then looked him up and down again, this time with a different, much more discerning eye.

“You know,” Krane said softly, “she doesn’t get her way every single time.” He almost sounded sympathetic.

Zuglah laughed. “I know that’s not true. If you’re worried about it, here. Take this, and come with us. But when we’re done, I want that back. I don’t have time to make more.”

He only thought Krane was surprised, before. The look of shock on his face when Zuglah pressed a glowing yellow vial of Live, Damn You! into his hand was priceless.

“You make Lady? This is ten platinum pieces, you’ve just handed me. Who doesn’t have time to be filthy rich?” That made Zuglah think of the curse that was pinned to his chest. He wanted to cover it up, but didn’t. He shrugged instead.

“I’ve had money. It didn’t do a thing for me.”

Krane shook his head, this time in wonderment. “Keep this then. I have similar. But I will accompany you, now that I have been formally invited.” Chayah opened her mouth wide, clearly to protest at some volume, so he said quickly, “Not to interfere. Your consequences shall be your own. But I will be there to make sure that nothing gets out of hand.” He opened the portal, but this time to the very top of the mountain. Zuglah strode through before he could change his mind again.

The air was cold and sharp, and it took his breath away. The top of the mountain was bald stone, and too bare for any snow or ice to cling to. But a hundred feet below them it was piled high. They all had a fantastic view of the mountain from here. Krane pointed and said loudly into the wind, “There!”

The Mountain Drake’s presence was immediately obvious. Far below, Zuglah could see a blackened piece of forest, and some of the trees didn’t look burned or struck; they looked broken. He could see clean, pale wood in the breaks of some of the newer ones. Pine trees were stripped of branches, great sequoia and banyans ripped from the earth. The Drake itself was too small to be seen, but they could see and hear traces of lightning from the trees and canopy surrounding.

Krane opened a second portal, and stood beside it with his fingers pressed to his lips. They nodded at the instruction each in turn as they entered.

They emerged under the cover of some boulders. The largest of which was climbable from their side, but was a sheer drop on the downslope side. At the top, they very carefully peeked over the edge to get a glimpse of the Mountain Drake.

His first thought was, That’s no dragon, but it wasn’t a comfort. It was low and long, with a body more like a winged snake. Then it moved, undulating and scrambling with many small, claw-tipped legs and employing serpentine locomotion that reminded him more than anything of a centipede. A winged, lightning-breathing centipede with rippling iron-hard scales that looked translucent and iridescent by turns. The whole thing made for an eyesore of an opponent.

He slid on his belly backwards until he was on the ground once again. He motioned them back through the portal. Once there, Krane closed the doorway so they could talk.

“I couldn’t get a reading from it. All I got was three skulls.” Zuglah had to raise his voice to be heard in the wind.

“It is a feature of the spell.” Krane told him. “It is meant to prevent you from doing something foolish.” Zuglah merely shrugged. He didn’t see that he had any choice. He needed to fight something significant if he was going to gain any real experience. Krane sighed. “It is a schaba sazal Mountain Drake. Primary attack, lightning breath, but it also has claws and tail. And large teeth, which you no doubt noticed. Immune to lightning, resists cold and vulnerable to fire damage. Of which, if I recall, you have very little.”

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Chayah reached out and placed two fingers on his brow. He felt his hair stand up on end, then lay flat. “It’s a little resistance to lightning. I hope it helps.” He felt better for having it, and said so.

He felt like he was ready. Resists cold. That meant that he couldn’t slow it down. It was fast… He admonished Chayah and Pliesson to stay here, and he stepped through alone. Krane nodded, then closed the portal.

The Drake was situated on the other side of the very same boulder, wings spread out across a large flat rock in the sunlight. He drew Briarthorn and cast Brambles.

The serpent-like body writhed and struggled against the thorns, getting more scratches and thus more of the sickenning venom. He immediately cast The Ice Blade twice, trying to injure one or both of its wings. He managed to hit one before they were both pulled in close to its body. He unleashed a stream of Dancing Mana ten slugs long, and ducked back behind the boulder. The beast still didn’t even know where he was.

He heard the frustrated screams as the mana bullets detonated one after another, staggering the vicious creature and enraging it further. He tried to peek from behind the boulder, and it spotted him. He used Blast of Frost, to almost no effect. The beast screamed, and a jagged bolt of lightning struck him in the middle of his chest. His arms and legs seized, his jaw clamped shut on its own, and his heart felt like it had to lurch back into service. And, he realized, it had knocked him on his ass. It was already right on top of him. Gods, it was fast!

He scrambled to his feet just in time to swing Redda Mo as hard as he could with both hands. He connected, slamming the side of the creature’s head with the length of the shaft, but it came right back with a scream, and a bath of steam and lightning. He snapped up Desperate Measures, but the Drake blasted right through it.

Zuglah realized through the pain that he could probably still cast. He roared his own scream right into the Drake’s face, and unleashed the hottest Blazing Inferno that he could summon. It blazed and he roared. The Drake steamed, and it screamed. He poured it on.

The Drake broke first. It turned around and scurried away, slipping sideways off of a large boulder and tumbling as it fled.

Zuglah took a step in pursuit, and fell flat onto his face. His legs were clenched rigidly from the lightning, and his vision was messed up. He pushed himself off of the ground, and tried to pull a healing potion out of the bandolier, but his fingers were all black, twisted and mangled. He shoved the entire shoulder strap closer to his face and jerked one of the corks out with his teeth. He sucked the Heal out, and instantly felt his strength return. His vision cleared at once, and he effortlessly regained his footing. The Drake was still scurrying away, so he sent Dancing Mana after it.

Zuglah blinked. He appeared in front of the Mountain Drake and blasted it with Blazing Inferno. It instantly changed direction again, but it was much slower and so much clumsier now. He was able to baste the entire length of the creature’s body as it passed, damaging its many tiny legs along that side. The beast’s belly was dragging noticeably along the rocks, and it had lost the venom behind its screaming. Zuglah aimed Dancing Mana towards the creature’s head, and did not relent until it stopped moving.

The moment that the creature died, he felt the surge. It was like a quickening. Each time he ascended, he could feel a new revelation of Self. He needed a moment to reflect.

“How did you do that?” Krane demanded.

“That’s exactly what I said.” Pliesson was on Krane’s left side, Chayah on his right. The Illusionist looked up at the tall Elf. “He killed Bulgo with a cantrip. The man’s just a natural. Even Wizard Gamstone said so.”

Zuglah found the Portable Hole inside his bag and pulled it out. He dropped the Hole onto the Drake and watched it quiver, then vanish.

“Drakes are known hoarders, Zuglah Glun. I should think that the lair will be fairly close by.” He nodded his thanks to Krane for the advice. Everyone spread out to look, except for Chayah, who wanted to walk with Zuglah.

“You were amazing! I was so scared when that thing was roaring in your face, I thought it was going to eat you. I almost made Krane take me down there, but of course he wouldn’t have anyway. He always keeps his promises. But I’m so proud of you. Did you ascend?” He felt a whisper across his mind, Join me, Zuglah Glun. He accepted gratefully.

He was in a party with Chayah. After a moment, he realized that he was also in a party with Pliesson. This pleased him, in some way, knowing that his two friends were keeping company with each other when he wasn’t there. Like he was their common ground or something. The cause of their friendship. He just knew that he hated being excluded from things, and he was gratified to see that Chayah had thought to include the Driole.

She squealed with pleasure, and jumped up to hug him around the neck. She was intoxicating, and he never really knew how seriously he should be taking the whole dating thing. She was a High Elf, after all, -and married!- and he was just a Troll without a clan. Who ever heard of an Elf dating a Troll?

Krane found the Drake’s lair, stumbling across a blood trail that he was able to follow back to a cave in the side of the mountain. Once inside, there were many rank, reptilian odors that Zuglah tried to immediately forget, as well as mounds of bones and other debris. Towards the back was an indiscriminate pile of gold, armor, weapons, personal mementos and rotting clothing. Krane cast Detect Magic over everything, then did the same trick with his staff that Gamstone had done, summoning all of the gold in the region to a small pile at the foot of his staff. It was enough to fill a soldier’s helmet and half of a leather sack.

There was a small cache of weapons and armor too, artifacts from this lone warrior or that, who had probably thought that their ace-in-the-hole item would carry the day. There was a beautiful lance, tipped in silver and gold filigree and etched in the same along the haft. There was a chainmail cowl that they removed from between a skull and helmet, a short sword, two daggers and a necklace.

They carried it all into the fresh air, where Krane made them a portal back to the village. After a brief discussion, they agreed to give the helmet full of coins to the Chief, with their wishes that this could help anyone who had experienced hardship because of the boars. For rebuilding, or better fencing, or anything really.

Zuglah and Chayah had seen first hand how embarrassed Pliesson’s parents had been when he had given them his winnings from Spellman’s Caverns. They had spluttered about how such a sum would make them rich, and they really didn’t need those kinds of headaches. Pliesson had told them to take the money and stop being so silly. So they had finally agreed. They were nearly apoplectic when he came by a few hours later with an even bigger handful, and shoved it into their tiny black-furred hands without a word.

Rolling his eyes at the delays and the sentimentality of it all, Krane opened a portal for them back to the Inn. Chayah browbeat her brother into opening them a doorway straight to their floor, and Krane complied mostly because she could barely keep her eyes open. Zuglah too was dead tired, but he was also famished. He and Pliesson stopped at the cafeteria to eat before turning in.

“Zuglah Glun?” He was plowing his way through his second plate of eggs and potatoes when someone barked his name. He looked up to see a small group of Humans gathered around him. He nodded to the man who had spoken, a portly Wizard in his middle years with a permanently red face and a patchy, white and gray beard. “Of course you are. My name is Agravail Bishop, and we would like to invite you to join our society.” He stood there smiling, quite pleased with himself. Zuglah looked to Pliesson for help.

“They’re from Cave Drinks. They make potions.”