Dragonlance Chapter 3 Khisanth

 

Flint gets sliced by Khisanth

Chapter 3: Dealing with Khisanth.

Returning from the tombs the rest of the party saw Tasslehoff running down the stairs shouting at the Aghar who running away from him to stop.  Flint called out for them to come back and as they hesitated Tasslehoff and Raislin murdered the three friendly Aghar!  Flint was very upset and Tanis has to stand between his two friends to keep them from fighting.

Continuing down the corridor the party came to a T-junction where lots of Agnar where forming a disorderly queue waiting for the lift.  Flint talked to the couple at the back and found out the lift was bringing more Draconians up to this level.  He and Riverwinder charged around the corner and cut down the two guards and then stared in wonder at the mechanism beyond and the ogre standing there happily eating the head of the guard Flint had just decapitated.

Looking down through two great holes the party could see one giant cauldron full of Aghar going down and other full of Draconian troops rising.  Each was connected by a large chain that rose through the roof and over a large notched wheel above their heads.  Raining down arrows on the approaching troops killed several of them and the others jumped out and glided down to the city several hundred feet below.

As the second bucket was still full of Aghar the speed of its decent, and the rising of the other, increased.  Everyone jumped back as the cauldron crashed through the floor flipped over the wheel, cracking it in several places, and dropped, upside down, back through the other whole along with the whole chain!

Crank the ogre slammed his brace into the broken wheel and announced "Lift stopped" before he realised there was nothing to actually stop anymore.  With a shake of their head and muttering about how hard it was going to be to fix the Aghar started to wonder off in the other direction.

The party followed the dwarves and found there was an old sewer pipe leading down to more of the broken city and it was possible to slowly work your way down through upside down streets and broken building to the party of the city below where the dragon resided.

During the decent the party evaded snakes and saw several ghosts including some in the tax office .  Some of them were cooking food, which smelled delicious.  The ghostly sage Ossamis told them the tale of how Huma had to sacrifice himself to banish the Queen of Darkness.  Flint asked what was the name of the dark goddess.  The sage said she has many names such as Takhisis and Tiamat but the Istarian name for her is just Queen of Darkness.  In the Tax Office the clerk wanted Caramon to pay his back taxes which with interest where one million, three hundred twenty thousand, four hundred seventy culli. He also stated "Do not try to pass off any of that Istaran gold on us again. There’s no future for gold!"

Tumbled building below resting on top of each other had turned the streets into dark passageways with doors on either side and in the ceiling above.  Following the Aghar the party avoided being swept away by the fast river over the the "nevermore" and out into the new sea.  They encountered Sunstar, a long survivor of the Qu-Shu tribe who talked out the other plainsmen being fed to a giant beast.  When it was her turn she had convinced her stupid guards that she did not need to be tied up as she was food and then ran away.

Eventually Flint was able to bribe one of the Aghar with a skin of rum to show him where their leader the great Highbulp lived.  Working there way through the debris and detritus the dwarves had left the party managed to meet Highbulp Phudge and convince him to take them to the secret passage (a sewer) that lead to the dragons lair.  Looking at the pipe half filled with water they asked the Highbulp when it was last used and he said the dry season and it was clearly now the wet season.  While the party discussed options Goldmoon, who spoke Dwarven, listened into the conversation as the leader told his guard to go and let Khisanth know about the intruders.  This resulted in the Highbulp and his men getting tied up.  

The party headed to the main plaza with the plan of sneaking across into the capital building where the dragon laired.  As they approached the dragon was shouting at her minions comparing about them letter her lunch escape and allowing intruders on the upper levels.  She ate one of the Aghar and then headed back into her lair.

Tasshoff came up with the excellent plan.  Going back and getting dressed up in the Aghar gear he got everyone else to hold a rope and walked directly up to the guards stating I have Lunch for Khisanth let me through; which they promptly did.  Ignoring the rest of the capital building and possible prisoners the party went directly to the dragons lair hoping to ambush her.

Unfortunately the alarm sounded as they walked down a hundred foot empty hallway.  Khisanth pulled open the doors at the far end and sprayed them all with acid.  The battle had begun!  The dragons claws and acidic spit caused main wounds.  At one point Flint, Caramon and Raislin were all dying but maximised healing from the Blue Crystal staff kept everyone alive.  Thanks to her rage Riverwind stayed on her feet absorbing many of Khisanth's attacks.  Raising to his feet Caramon stabbed the dragon through the neck.  With a final roar Khisanth rose into the air and crashed down onto the ground causing the earth to rumble.  The Capital building balanced precariously on the cliff edge above the new sea began to break up and topple into the abyss.  Grabbing the disks of the gods and whatever other items they could carry the party fled.

With the landscape changing more water was running through the Aghar's domain.  The Highbulp was released, Sunstar collected and the party started the long slow climb to return to the surface.

Substitute Player when someone misses the game