The Dragon's Village 2017

[Vanya Mia]

"Wind and water are playing together where fire cannot see." Moriko remarked, possibly in response to Wen but perhaps not. For a moment she looked impishly at the panda trundling along beside her. "If void is allowed to play too then Master will be hidden." This prompted a long rumbling response with the tone of vehement denial, which in turn prompted a giggling fit from Moriko. "We could play tag but we can't play tag with void because it knows." Perhaps because of some private joke, when Master grunted a little in return Moriko almost fell about laughing.

"But the snowflakes are the best." She responded through fits of giggles, and seemingly it was now Master's turn from the series of growls that sounded like guffaws. This eventually turned into another set of rumbling which caused Moriko to burst out laughing again.

"It doesn't matter," she managed to say after a few moments. "They can't break wind." Both of them fell apart upon this, or at least the panda seemed afflicted by some kind of fit, which Master eventually broke by scooping up snow and throwing it at Moriko while rumbling once more.

"Alright, alright!" she responded. "I'll be good now." Though as they wandered on she snickered occasionally.

[Shadani]

"The weather here may prove unpredictable," Ning said, at Wen's words. "The spirits are restless. Wild. This frigid cold does not mean that fire does not await us beneath the earth."

She shook her head.

"Regardless. We cannot count on the winds to offer us mercy. We need to press on."

[Klasa]

Perhaps there was something to these Dragon Warriors after all. Despite all odds they proved to prevail again and again. They defeated the Fey, sort of, with the aid of the Ogre. They even slew a dragon. . .

Huo Da knew he was aiding them as best as he could, but he was beginning to falter in his confidence at his fit for this job. He knew how Master's judgement couldn't be wrong, but. . . He had been slain, there was no question of that fact.

He had begun to move on, to leave this plane of existence for the next. The things he saw on the way there. . . While they were slipping his mind now, at the time they were vivid. True, he was alive now, but only because of an artifact held by the Dragon Warriors.

"Hmm? Oh, Jya. . . I do not believe so, no. . . Apologies." Huo Da says in response to Wen, momentarily broken out of his thoughts. No, it would do no good to constantly dwell on that event. Rather, he would just need to be more careful and redouble his efforts.

[Lazybones]

Session 23

+1050xp for full-party IC posting this week.

[Mirgalen]

Not finding server. Will try again in 5 minutes. Did I get it wrong or is the time changing this week onward?

Never mind. Back in 1 hour.

[Vanya Mia]

... booting now.

Edit: Hang on, don't the US start next week? Web says it starts for them on the 11th, which is tomorrow?

Edit Edit: Server is up anyway.

[Lazybones]

DST starts this Sunday at 2 a.m., so it has no effect on this week's game.

[Lazybones]

TDV4: Rage of the Spirits uses the same haks as the previous mod, with one addition. You should all have Worms's Seasonal Forest v.10, since I use have used it in many of my mods in the past, but here is where you can get it just in case: https://neverwintervault.org/project/nw ... erver-haks (download links are halfway down the page).

[Mirgalen]

After the swamp and the frozen steppes, the team reach a volcanic mountain area. Up what must have been a hundred steps or so they found the entrance of an old temple. Inside, they had to fight their way down. They faced some of the hordes troops but also creatures made of earth or fire. There was a master monk who proved difficult to handle even when he was paralysed. At the end there was a strong mage and a big Oni who must have been summoned from the bottom of the hells. Tenko told himself that no amount of hell money they could carry could appease this creature. After a long and hard fight both Mage and big Oni were defeated. As they were leaving the temple, the ground started to shake followed by a kind of earthquake that brought the lava from the depths of the earth to the mountain surface. The group got surrounded by liquid fire on the top of cliff. "Time to die" say Tenko but as he was ready to be taken by the flow of lava an old dragon friend showed up and saved the day. The heart they came for had been cut in half and disposed of in the lava. Soon after the Khan fell and the horde was defeated.


After the celebration none of them was sure what to do next. Going back to the dragon village seemed out of question. Tenko considered leaving the group to find the Fox Lady. Perhaps he could use that time to find his roots and perhaps deal with that anger he had been "suffering from". He had no clue where to start searching. Perhaps another fox would know but so far he had not met any. Perhaps his kind was to good at disguising themselves and passing for humans. Somehow they could even mask their scent. As he was an expert scout and was able to explore areas providing there was no trap or locked door on his way he considered going to the nearest forest once rested to start searching for a fellow kitsune...

[Karvon]

The party made it across the frozen wastes and climbed up into some mountains beyond. Eventually, they found and stormed a horde fortress slaying all in their path. The master of the fortress and a guardian demon of some sort proved a very tough fight, but eventually, the group wore them down and slew them. They found a living heart, which Gojiro sliced thru with his blade before tossing the parts into the surrounding lava lake. The mountain shook and the team fled for the surface, only to find themselves surrounded by a sea of rising lava. Fortunately the dragon they had freed sometime back chose that moment to swoop in and rescue them, flying to safety beyond the steppes.

Back in the capital, they were feted by the emperor and his court and, more importantly, given a good sum of gold as more concrete token of imperial thanks. Invitations from various nobles and other courtiers poured in over the next few weeks to various galas and feasts. Gojiro obliging attended as many as he could squeeze in taking full advantage of their at least momentary fame. There were one or two he did turn down with appropriate apologies, as there were certain people he'd rather not meet again. It was true many years had passed, and he was completely different, and it was unlikely he would be recognized, but he saw no point in tempting fate when it could be avoided.