Posted by Kana on 7/1/2009, 12:54 pm, in reply to "Re: A Brief History of Aurilaz & The Talisman"
War Scribe turned to Tommy with a wicked grin, "I knew you were going to ask for maps. You always do!" With that said, the Drowling disappeared and reappeared with two more tomes and an armful of maps, which she promptly plopped down onto the cart. Grabbing a book, the Drowling opened it and skimmed through a few pages, "Well fancy that! Aurilaz's fights with other dragons has been well-chronicled over the years, Gamer, and there is an interesting pattern to each and every one of them she has won. All of her victories have been won by ambushes." Pointing to a reference, War Scribe added, "See here, she defeated an ice dragon by ambushing him in his own lair nine hundred years ago." Turning a few pages, she pointed to another reference, "And here, she finished off a green dragon by ambushing her in a dark swamp only six hundred years ago." Flipping through another set of pages, the Chronicler added, "And still here, she defeated a golden dragon by ambushing him in the ruins of an ancient city about three hundred years ago. While she has used a variety of tactics to take down her opponents--from tooth and claw to dark magic to her acidic breath to simply using her environment as a weapon--Aurilaz has won all of her victories by ambushing her opponents."
"It's almost as if someone is tipping her off as to where and when her attackers will attempt to strike at her," the Swordsman scratched his head.
"To be fair," the Gamer replied, "all of those examples had her as the aggressor. A lot easier to ambush in that situation. But she did ambush her attackers, too, which certainly does suggest a good intelligence network. Apparently she's pretty good at dominating the locals, so it's a safe bet she has spies among the Humans and Dwarves in the area. And then there's whatever magical defenses she might have. A few well-placed wards and sneaking up on her would be all but impossible."
"As for her brood," The Drowling confessed as she opened the second book she brought, "Aurilaz has three documented surviving children since the last reference was made about a hundred years ago. She may or may not have had more kids since that time."
Closing the book and opening up two of the maps, War Scribe added, "These maps were drawn up two hundred years ago, a full century before Aurilaz moved into The Topaz Mountains. As you can see, the Dwarves left a number of secret passages which could get you into or out of that mountain range--provided of course that those passages are still there and not caved-in or filled with water or covered by dense brush. Still, your best bet to get into those mountains undetected would be this Myron Ironbane fellow if he is from those mountains. The last I checked he was still in The Harlech Inn during the werewolf attack and may be there if the nasty little runt did not wind up in some werewolf's stomach. Muwha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"
Willow Bark frowned, "While sneaking into those mountains may not be easy, it may also be pointless as well. Dungeonmaster said the Talisman cannot be taken and that it must be given. How in the Realm are we going to convince Aurilaz to give us this item?"
"Since she knows that it could be used to enslave her?" chirped Serna somewhat reluctantly.
"Good question," chimed in Neven shaking his head at this dilemma.
Tommy shrugged. "I have no particular desire to get into a fight with her, so talking her into giving us the Talisman is all for the good. For me, the sneaking about and learning how she fights is mostly because she doesn't seem to be the sort of person who would be open to us just walking in the front door for tea and conversation. As for how we'll get it from her, we need to learn more about her situation first. Figure out what this whole Talisman Bearer business is about." Whimsically, he added, "and why a Black Dragon has a name more appropriate for a Gold Dragon. But seriously," he continued, shifting tone to match, "War Scribe; do you have any more information about the Talisman? Who's had it in the past, what they've done with it, what they might have in common with each other… anything like that?"
"Maybe we dont ask her to give us the Talisman," Kana started of with an idea. "You said that she has followers and worshipers and we're not even sure if she would give it to any of us, if she let us live. I say let's make plans to go in softly and peacefully because I wouldn't ask any questions if I had territory and found out someone came agressively into it. There's a reason Venger wants it, or maybe he doesn't and just wants to get us out of the way for good. The past will give us info on what, who and why, but I don't think it's gonna give us an idea on what's to come."
