Session 280 - The Dragon and the Crack-Ferret

An escape from a Dragon, an encounter with a sneaky ferret that nearly killed Jeremy Wizard, and absolutely loads of fucking rain. It can only be overland travel through the wastes! At least you're near your goal now!

Session 280 - The Dragon and the Crack-Ferret

New Characters:
- Niamh, a familiar Cleric of the Enlightened faith.

Supplies:
- 13 Ferret Rations (13 exp)
Total: 13 exp

Kills:

- A massive ferret (250 exp)
Total: 250 exp

Expedition:
- Found Shielded Campsite (100 exp)
- Saw a Dragon (500 exp)
Total: 600 exp

Events:

--- Braving the Rain
- A summer storm beats down on the party’s campsite, rattling off the roof of the wagon and splashing over the bones of the skeletal steed. There’s one main problem - they’re hungry and Jeremy’s supply of rations has run low.
- They set out to forage and thunder cracks through the sky, a fizzing static sound comes from all around and everyone’s exposed gear is damaged, their arms and armour threaded with juddery lightning traceries! To add insult to injury, they find fuck all food in the poisoned waste.
- Back at the camp, Jeremy begrudgingly uses all of his magical reserves to Mend everyone’s gear and Niamh preaches the Enlightened gospel to a mostly receptive audience. The Blessing of the Lady is upon them - turn any roll into a coin flip today!

--- Vine Dragon
- As he does so, thick vines snake their way across the ground. Around them various plantlife grows and matures and dies and grows, a fast-forwarded flora. A Dragon must be near!
- Andromeda morphs into bat form and flies to investigate with her various visions. She soon finds it - more a moving mass of fast-growing greenery in the vague shape of a Dragon than an actual beast of flesh and bone.
- She flies back and the party quickly decamp in the pouring rain. There is a brief argument over whether they should fight or flee - Dragon hearts are valuable and useful for rune-magic after all - but the issue is forced when the shambling shape of that very monster looms in the downpour!
- Jeremy screams, jumps into the skeleton spider-horse steed, and goes! The others grab on as he careens past, spraying mud across the vine-covered ground, going as fast as he can to evade the great Dragon!
- The Lady’s blessing immediately comes in handy, allowing even the least skilful driver to at least have even odds of successfully piloting the wagon under pressure.
- The Dragon takes to the sky, spreading massive fern frond wings and chasing after the wagon with a sound like wind through trees. Andromeda takes to the sky too, bat wings flapping, and draws the beasts’ attention! She successfully draws it away and the wagon continues on at great speed, jouncing across the rough terrain and pouring rain.

--- Hiding in the Crack
- Soon the wagon leaves the vine-strewn ground of the dragon’s home. Through the ever-present rain they can see that the ground is cracked and broken around here, strange rolls of earth like crashing waves frozen into dirt. More importantly, some of these waves form long tubes that can be sheltered in!
- They take the opportunity to do just that, Andromeda taking watch as usual. Jeremy, freaked out by the idea of Dragons, goes as deep into the safety hole as he can.
- This is an almost fatal error - during the night Jeremy feels something tapping on his head. He opens his eyes to see a huge and pure black ferret staring into his eyes! It goes for his throat, silently choking him!
- Even Andromeda’s enhanced hearing can’t detect this silent killer. Thankfully Jeremy’s bee familiar can! It buzzes over the Andromeda and buzzes angrily, and when she turns she sees exactly what’s going down with her heartbeat vision!
- The thing is powerful, but not as powerful as Andromeda’s vampire-strength! She burns blood to wrestle the ferret off of Jeremy’s neck, and he gets a hand free to send a Magic Missile into it at point-blank range!
- In the cramped fold of hillside it’s nigh-impossible for Niamh and Red to help, but they try. Niamh at least heals Jeremy, Red tries to stab past into the ferret, and finally Andromeda manages to drain the last of the blood from this ferrety foe!
- The horror defeated, the rest of the party try to get some rest. In the morning they awake to the “interesting” scent of Ferfect Frazzlejack Ferret - a mix of tenderised ferret meat and frazzlejack. It’s surprisingly ok!

--- Road Get!
- In the morning the rain finally clears! Thank goodness! They set off again and avoid the dragon’s lair, soon coming to an actual trail on the edge of the woods, wonderful! Everything’s working out nicely!
- They roll off down the trail at a much greater speed than previously, heading down towards Puddle on their pre-apocalypse map. The trail takes them into a boggy forest and through to Puddle which is being reclaimed by the marsh. Nevertheless, there’s evidence that somebody’s been here recently - muddy tracks and the remains of a campfire.
- They camp here in the ruins for the night. It rains during the night, but eases into a muggy haze in the morning. Heading further gets them to the outskirts of what was once the village of Pindle, so they turn south-east towards their goal.
- At the crossroads is a pub called Crossroads and there’s… a small man waving at them from the door? Suspecting ghosts or some similar shenanigans, they bravely roll onwards.
- Further along they see ash-blackened skeletons standing by the roadside. Said skeletons turn to follow the wagon as it passes by them, so Jeremy digs in his heels and gets the wagon to get out of there!

--- The Glassmaker of Despond

- They reach Despond on the edge of the massive lake called the Lone Sea in good time. Sir Robyn’s tower is somewhere between here and the village of Pond to the south. Something piques Andromeda’s interest - a glassblower’s shop with a puff of smoke rising from the chimney!
- She enters the place and looks around… and notices a nigh-invisible creature open the door to the office and slip through. Mystery!!

- We end on that little cliffhanger! Surviving a dragon, a massive ferret, and loads of rain is no easy feat!

Total: 6000 exp

Roles:
Remembrancer: Charles (100 exp)
Triage: Timothy (100 exp)
Vanguard: Kitty (100 exp)
Expedition Leader: Timothy (100 exp)

OOC Bonuses:
- Art Attack bonus (Charles - 100 exp)

Exp Totals:

- Kitty / Andromeda, Level 8 Andromedan Vampire: 163356 (Level MAX)

- Tim / Red, Level 8 Duellist Fighter: 150949 (Level MAX)

- Charles / Jeremy Wizard, Level 7 Magic-User: 99098 (Level up at 144000)

- James G / Niamh, Level 1 Enlightened Cleric: 1716 (Level up at 2250)