For this excursion Jim created a total of 3 plans for what we could do while out here so as not to waste our time. The first plan was to explore the mystery location, the one where we just finished giving up on even finding the place. The second possibility was an abandoned monastery located a bit further to the northwest, amidst the Break mountains.
The monastery has been fully explored repeatedly, so we are not terribly likely to find high value goods there, but due to the shelter which stone construction provides, the monastery keeps having new groups of creatures inhabit it, and the sort of creatures that seek out conventional structures for their shelters tend to have loot of their own.
The final plan should the first 2 fail to work out for us, is to try and find the source of those orc wolf riders we saw a month ago. Aside from the quality gear we could loot from any defeated foes, we would be able to sell information on the whereabouts and purpose of a larger group of them, either to the government of Diamond Lake, or possibly to other interested parties, meaning more powerful of adventuring groups who have the means to handle a few hundred orcs in one go. We get a finder's fee, they get specific information leading to a bevy of equipment to sell.
If I am being honest with myself, I am not particularly fond of either of the backup plans. Breaking into a tomb, I would expect for our opponents to probably be undead, possibly in conjunction with a few traps or puzzles. Seeking out a thoroughly explored ruin to annihilate whomever has settled there? Tracking down the source of large groups of orcs? These both entail a high possibility of needing to fight sentient creatures. Monsters certainly, but sentient. Who am I to decide someone should die merely for being a monster? I am a monster.
Regardless, we will see how things play out. If possible, I will try and prevent a repeat of the experience from my first hunting party with my clutch mates. Unless they are actively attacking you, civilians should not be targeted short of a war of total extermination. We are not at war. I would even prefer that we attempt to talk, and even trade should the option be present rather than just running in and killing everyone. Not that I have anything to trade, but perhaps I could negotiate some trade on behalf of my village… Not that they have anything to trade, either.
The monastery should only be a few days travel, during which time I focus on building a set of tools that I believe should assist in… Seedier endeavors. Whether picking locks or safely disassembling the mechanics associated with a pressure plate, since the class has decided I should be able to do these things, even though I consider the actual likelihood of needing those skills in the near future to be abysmal, I see no reason not to be prepared for the possibility. Other than making better versions of the gear I have already produced for our group, I lack the materials to perform significant upgrades to the group's current loadout.
At one point during this trip, I ask Jim how one would go about learning more about botany and local flora and similar things. He directs me to Joaqim, who directs me to Regina, who it turns out is rather knowledgeable about the subject, though her recommendation is that I follow an apprenticeship method, preferably under a druid, and gain the skill that way. Regina is not the most forthcoming when it comes to passing along her own knowledge.
When I explain that I am particularly interested in brewing some healing potions when we get back to the city, she at least agrees to keep her eyes open for flora which might serve as effective ingredients towards manufacturing those potions. Lacking literally everything associated with potion brewing, her willingness to collect materials for me is already a significant benefit, even if I am less than confident that I will be able to make proper use of anything she forages.
3 days later we locate the monastery. The terrain is becoming increasingly rough, and even Regina is beginning to have trouble finding paths that the cart can safely travel. I consider myself fortunate that we don’t have to progress deeper in the mountains.
As we look on from a distance, I find myself pleasantly surprised by the quality of the architecture. It is obviously old, but most of the 3 or 4-meter-tall wall is still present. There is a single large building in the center of the compound, with another three much smaller buildings surrounding it. The wall, the buildings, everything is made out of stone, mostly granite. The primary structure looks to have probably been a three story building at one point, though only nominally due to an Irish style spire that likely would have served as a bell tower, and the third floor has mostly collapsed at this point, which would presumably leave a noteworthy minority of the second floor exposed to the elements.
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Continuing to discretely observe, we soon learn that Jims projection that some creatures have taken over the monastery is correct. Or rather, a creature. I should start things off by pointing out that dragons are famous for their intelligence. They are not as smart as humans; they are far, far smarter than humans. They are proficient fighters, wielding their claws, wings, and teeth to devastating effect; and are capable to laying waste to entire townships with nothing but their claws.
That's not the end of it though, although their ability when it comes to the strength of their body is famed, that is only the tip of the iceberg. Dragons are also proficient priests, who can cast even the highest levels of divine spells such as being able to perfectly resurrect ancient warriors who had been dead for thousands of years. If that’s not enough, they are also brilliant mages, summoning the most powerful arcane forces as though it is child’s play, capable of granting wishes and summoning rains of fire from the sky suitable for wiping out armies. Dragons are creatures of myth, unimaginably powerful even by the standards of this world. Dragons stand at the absolute pinnacle of mortal capabilities in every field, concurrently.
The next thing to note is that dragons gain power as they age. All of those feats that I just mentioned are executable by the paragons of their species. Indeed, even the weakest subraces of dragons possess power unfathomable by mortal minds once they are sufficiently old. But these claims regarding their peerless might are applicable as they age, and the extremes of their strength are not realized until they are ancient wyrms, alive for millennia.
Due to their strength relating closely to their age, the stories of heroes slaying dragons are not without basis. A younger dragon is weaker than an older dragon. Sufficiently young, a dragon will not be able to use magic at all. Sufficiently young, a dragon’s scales will only be a single layer deep, and thinner and softer than steel, much less the scales of an older dragon. Only the most ancient of dragons are completely unmatched by mortals.
So where does this one stand? The one flying towards the monastery now, and consequently us? It is not ancient. He (or she) is only about 2 meters long from snout to the tip of its tail. Its scales are small, shiny, and frankly don’t look significantly harder than my own. This is a baby. A little red lizard, so small and weak that it might as well be a mere human.
This is a creature I believe, despite being far from the pinnacle of metahuman potential, we can kill. It is also a baby, and I do not want to kill any babies. What. The. Fuck. I don't want to kill any babies, and I don't want the rest of the group to either. Why does this keep happening?!
Although we notice it quickly, it also spotted us immediately where we crawled up, just on the other side of a rise in the ground so that we present a narrow profile to the monastery while we observe. We are positioned at a good and discreet observation point for the monastery, but we are fully exposed to the sky leading up to the compound. The baby dragon flies directly and rapidly towards us, letting out a shriek of rage. There is little time to do more than stand up before it is upon us, whereupon it releases the iconic gout of flame that dragon-kind are famous for.
I had begun to step forward, calling out to it “Hail, mighty-“ when the flames reached me. It appears I was the only one foolish enough to attempt some form of diplomacy, as the rest of the group dived to the sides, behind nearby vegetation, or simply down to the ground to get under the outer edges of the flame. We all got hurt. Holy bajesus that is HOT! It's probably a good thing that only I was dumb enough to do nothing whatsoever to prepare for its opening gambit.
As quickly as that, I’m down to 10 health from my original 20. To be honest I’m a bit surprised that it didn’t kill me outright, but objectively speaking, considering he managed to hurt everyone in our group, even a hatchling dragon is terrifying. That would be more than enough to kill most people at first level, and some even at second; my maximized toughness stat provides a significant bonus to my health at each level, so even though I'm rather weak and it probably doesn't seem like it, I'm uncommonly tough, with my health stat being closer to that of an average fighter than an average mage.
After that brilliant introduction, no further conversation is attempted by anyone. Bucky pulls out his crude short bow and attempts to put a needle in the fast moving target, but his arrow flies very wide. The low quality of his weaponry is probably a factor in that shot, but it was so far off course that I think the whole "nearly fried to death" thing was the biggest reason he missed this time. Joaqim immediately casts a healing spell on Bucky. Bucky may have had a better response to the attack than I did, and he is some form of a fighter, who should be getting more health with each level than I do courtesy of his class, but if his reflexes were as bad as mine he would probably be dead right now. He is still only a level 1 after all.
Jim launches his signature arcane missiles at the dragon, which catches the dragon dead center, as unerring as ever, while Regina uses her longbow to send an arrow directly through its left wing, throwing it off balance and causing it to start wobbling on its flyby. I pull out my sling and throw a rock at it. Courtesy of that flame trying to give me a terrible case of dry eyes, my vision is more than a little blurry right now. It feels like I just finished giving my eye balls a steam bath. But this time at least, I managed to get my rock where I wanted it to go. I wouldn’t expect a pebble to hurt a dragon, but the aim was true and it caught him in the head. The impact was hardly impressive, but it jerked his head a bit, so it should have done at least a little bit of damage. At least, I think it probably did? It's hard to tell when you do so little damage and the enemy is this fierce.
By the time we have completed our initial volley, the dragon has looped around and appears to be landing. It doesn’t forget to launch another gout of flame, this time making sure that Joaqim is right at the center of his target area so that there’s no escaping his fiery breath. Joaqim goes down, his actual condition, dead or merely grievously wounded, unknown. The rest of us manage to avoid the worst of the blast this time, though even without taking the brunt of the flames this time, I am still down to a mere 5 health remaining. Even if it’s indirect, that heat is absurd. Joaqim took it head on. With our priest, our sole healer, being out of the fight, this really might be the early death that Regina insisted I would find.