Skuffydämmerung

North of the Engeror, 8th August, 2am

The mountains and snow-cloaked plains flashed beneath the three adventurers as the horde of dragons hurtled southwards through the night. Flurries of snow flicked up from hill-tops as they skimmed them, and the rush of the wind was a constant roar. Normally, only the biggest of the massive reptiles should have been able to reach this speed, much less keep it up hour on hour, but in the same way as Saryn Darrath's power had seemed to spread to those around him to protect them from the psychic blast of the Sceptre's end, so some essential aura of power and speed flowed from him to enhance the speed and might of his draconic allies.

Gorfang leaned forwards and bellowed to Ohmond; "Take me to Saryn Darrath; I want to talk to him!" Ohmond grunted, and angled his flight towards the massive leader. As they converged, Gorfang shouted to the massive dragon elder. "Perhaps we should go ahead to the city, and reconnoitre?" Saryn Darrath rumbled skeptically. "What guarantee would we have that you would return, rather than - say - warning them of our coming? Also, how would you get any information back to us?" Vengan had also converged, bearing Eloy, and the human shook his head dubiously. "I wouldn't bank on our welcome in Vorsand," he said, "I'd expect us to be public enemies one, two and three!" Gorfang nodded at Saryn Darrath, "No, he is; but we may be close behind," he commented. The idea was shelved.

As they rode along, the three humanoids secured themselves and snatched what sleep they could. Eloy, wanting to reinforce the bond between him and Vengan, unpacked a potion of Gaseous Form and passed it to the dragon, "in case of emergencies," he said. Vengan took it delicately in his claws and tucked it in behind a scale. "Look out for me down there," Eloy said.

Meanwhile, Gorfang was talking to Saryn Darrath, recounting everything he knew about Vorsand, the Dark Tower, and the significant beings who lived there. Although many of the dragons in the horde had once lived there, Gorfang had been places and met people they hadn't, and the dragon listened attentively. Perhaps reassured of Gorfang's trustworthiness, Saryn Darrath began describing his plans for the attack on Vorsand. Shock and awe, impact and ferocity were the main tenets, with the majority directed against the Dark Tower itself. Complicated tactics were not a good idea, because the only things glueing the horde together were hate and anger; once the first orgy of vengeance was over and the dragons calmed down, draconic nature would reassert itself. The natural size of a group of dragons is one. Some of the dragons from Vorsand had become accustomed to each other - and some hated each other. Many of those drawn into the horde in the North would want to return there. So once the city fell, the alliance was likely to fall apart.

Gorfang hesitated for a moment, and then raised the suggestion that - given the warning he would already have had - Skufruss was unlikely to be at home. Though where could he go? he thought, everyone hates him! Saryn Darrath spoke slightly more quietly. "I had thought of that," he rumbled, "though in their rage my bretheren may not have done. If we do find him, that will be very good. If we do not, I am willing to settle for the ruination of his city and his Tower and his Empire as a first act of vengeance."

Vorsand, Tarlanor, 9th August 1655, 11pm

As the onrushing horde of dragons reached the north end of the Versate Pass, they bunched together and descended before plunging into the narrow valley. The stone crags blurred past on either side, reminding the companions anew of their speed. The sky was dark; all day, clouds had been gathering ahead of them, and to the humanoids it gradually began to appear almost as if the swarm of dragons was pushing them ahead of them. Now, as they bulleted down the Pass, there was little doubt; an ever-denser knot of black stormclouds was matching their pace above.

An hour later, the swarm rose to cross a ridge and came into sight of the city for the first time. Lights were dotted here and there in the city itself, and as they rushed closer they could see signs that the Tower was not abandoned. The city leaped up to meet them as they hurled themselves at it, snarls and growls rising now from the dragons as their slow anger kindled to flames of rage - and the storm broke. Forks of blinding lightning split the sky and rain lashed down like darts. The three companions, soaked in an instant, readied their bows.

The swarm flashed unopposed across the Backwall and tore across the city without stopping, angling slightly to the right, straight at the Dark Tower. Everything seemed to slow down for Gorfang, Lynien, and Eloy in those last seconds. The stone walls, pinnacles, windows and battlements of Skufruss' donjon seemed to float up at them almost gracefully as swarms of arrows, crossbow quarrels and ballista bolts separated themselves from the tower and seemed to drift up to meet the attack.

Everything caught up with them with a jolt as the dragons' formation broke apart, the dragons splitting off to swing left, right, up and down and swoop dizzyingly past the Tower at different angles to attack it in different places, to spiral around and through the three towers amid a blizzard of sharp bolts and defensive spells, to slash and tear at the stone and its defenders and to blast fire, ice, acid, lighting and gas at them. The power of the turn drove Gorfang and Lynien down flat against the scales of Ohmond for a moment, and as they hauled themselves up again it was to see a blur of wet stone swirling past, lit crazily by flaring lighting from both sky and dragons.

Lynien caught a glimpse of a black-robed human in the dress of the Tower's mages, and snapped an arrow at him. It caught him in the shoulder, and the power of the strike added to the speed of the dragon from which she fired it punched it clear through the man. She had a brief impression of him falling as Ohmond's headlong rush took her away from him. Her arrow was poisoned of course, but she felt it wouldn't have mattered if it hadn't have been.

Ahead of her, Gorfang shook the rain out of his eyes and looked for his own target. A familiar face caught his eye - one Kanx, a faculty mage he had met with Ohmdalz, directing a group of lizard soldiers to their posts - and he loosed two arrows at him. The first took Kanx between the eyes, and the second drilled a lizardman warrior through the belly. The impact hurled both across the stone wall top, and the survivors scattered for cover.

Eloy, mounted on Vengan Doomstealer, also caught sight of a familiar face on the walls - the Boggart, Shados Slyyryn - and he crowed, imagining Gorfang's face should he take out such a powerful Kin. His arrow missed by inches, killing a soldier next to the Boggart, and the Kin whirled in time to evade the second. His eyes met Eloy's with a flick of recognition and then the white dragon had hurtled past and they were gone. Eloy leaned forward towards Vengan's head and screamed "Go back! I want him!" and he thought the dragon probably heard him; but like the others, he had to swoop out from the towers, climb, turn, and dive back - while evading missiles - and so couldn't just turn back to where the Boggart stood.

The fall of Vorsand- click it for larger image!

As the dragons soared upwards from their first diving attack they chose their next targets. Several swung out over the city, blasting fire down into the packed buildings. Constricted between the valley sides, Vorsand was a crowded city, and there was no chance of missing. Houses and shops exploded like bombs as their contents were instantly heated to hundreds of degrees, and citizens fled in terror, vainly seeking for somewhere safe from the attack from above.

The majority, though, concentrated on the Tower itself. The first wave of attacks had done perceptible damage to the structure, and many of the windows and embrasures had been enlarged by smashing blows from talons and tails. The smaller dragons began to attack these holes, diving to ram their heads and shoulders inside and then pull themselves further in with their foreclaws. Saryn Darrath himself was concentrating on the centre tower, smashing great slabs of masonry free to tumble down into the courtyard below, burying many defenders in tons of rubble. Vengan and Ohmond elected to take another swing around the outside before landing and once more the three adventurers lined up their bows to support them.

Ohmond swung up and rocketed across the roof of the centre tower, and Lynien zeroed in on an officer who stood bravely exposed, directing his ballista crew as their engine swung to track the whirling dragons with the aid of enchantments. She recognized him as a man who'd spoken to her in the courtyard after the Sarkrith attack. Lynien's envenomed shaft nailed him mercilessly to the wooden ballista frame, and her second killed another of the crew. Eloy spotted another wizard, a Fireball prepared in his right hand, directing two soldiers to erect a pavise. He skewered the mage, who toppled onto his face as the spell set his robes afire. A second later, Vengan breathed, and the air crystalized into solid ice, trapping the two hapless soldiers like flies in amber, frozen instantly to death. Even chunks of stone falling from the damaged walls were caught and frozen as they fell, and Eloy shuddered, more glad than ever that he'd not fought Vengan.

Two Kin elite warriors, grasping the doubleswords which had been the hallmark of Varkar's warriors and had come back into vogue in recent years among Skufruss', jogged across a battlement, and Gorfang loosed at them gleefully. One died instantly, but the other was only winged and shook a vengeful fist at the orc as Ohmond banked to swing across to the south tower, enveloping a ballista and its' crew in a wash of roiling flame. The tension straps of the siege engine pulled it to pieces as the fire weakened the wood, and flaming chunks spun away as the crew died in agony.

The whole area between the city and the clifftops was a maelstrom of whirling dragons, lashing rain, breath weapons of all colours and types, arrows and lightning. Gorfang flinched as a nearby dragon was struck simultaneously by two ballista bolts and tumbled down to crash into the city, smashing several houses to matchwood in its' fall. Beneath Eloy, Vengan shuddered as some kind of missile buried itself in his belly. The Man in the Shadows pulled a wand of Cure Serious Wounds from his belt and touched it to the dragon's side, releasing the spell, and Vengan reached up to touch him lightly on the leg with a claw in signal of gratitude.

The next moment, both Ohmond and Vengan chose their openings and dived head-on into a tower. Ohmond had chosen the top floor of the south tower, and both Gorfang and Lynien leaped free as fifty tons of dragon smashed at eighty miles an hour into the roof embrasures and came to a sudden halt. Somersaulting in the air, they arced over the battlements and landed cat-light on the rain-wet roof.

Vengan had chosen the top of the north tower, where the tower joined onto an overhang in the rock. There was no roof to jump to, so Eloy aimed himself at a place where the breach was big enough for him to fit through. Unlike the other two, he didn't rely entirely on his natural agility; he donned his Ring of Flying as he jumped, ensuring he wouldn't fall as Vengan drove himself into the gap with a rending of stone.

North Tower, Fourth Floor (Cave)

Eloy rose to his feet, finding himself in a rough cave eighty feet across, with crevices in the floor, a second breach in the far side, and a spiral flight of stairs leading down. Behind him, Vengan was hauling himself in through the breach, and Eloy pointed at the stairs, wide enough for a single human. "You can't get down those," he pointed out. Vengan, who hadn't thought of that, snorted, kicked off from the tower, and was gone. Eloy shook his head. He's not stupid, he thought, he's just a Very Special dragon. He turned to the stairs and descended rapidly.

South Tower, Fourth Floor (Observatory)

As Lynien and Gorfang landed one each side of Ohmond, the dragon blasted fire across the roof-top, clearing most of the opposition off. Gorfang found himself face-to-face with nine soldiers and another Kin champion. Chuckling, he charged through the steam from mixture of rain and dragonfire and began to slaughter them.

Lynien darted to the door of the strange-shaped structure perched on the roof, opened it and slipped through. Inside, she found a small room crammed with odd-looking optical instruments, each aimed at a hole in the ceiling. An observatory, she thought. Although the lenses - especially the big ones - must have cost a fortune to make, they weren't any kind of portable treasure. She did unscrew the eyepiece of one, thinking of using it to value gems, but then headed for the central staircase.

South Tower, Third Floor (Garden of Death)

At the next level she looked out of the stairwell and stopped in amazement. Of all the things she didn't expect to find in the Dark Tower, this was one - a whole floor of the tower dedicated to a lush green garden. Some kind of magical crystal in the ceiling threw what looked exactly like daylight over the scene, and a small lake glinted a short way off. Lynien shrugged; no use to me, she thought, and carried on downwards.

South Tower, Second Floor (Throne Room)

The next floor down was far more what she expected; walls, corridors, doors. She opened a couple of doors at random, finding apartments hastily cleared out and abandoned, with odd books, papers or clothing dropped on the floor. Emerging, she heard approaching footsteps and tucked herself into the shadows as two Kin champions came down the hallway at the double. Not seeing her, they passed, rounded the corner, and set off up the stairs towards the upper levels.

Opening off the main hallway were larger doors with a silver-grey 'S' marked on them, and these took her interest. Carefully rendering herself invisible with Maedar's Ring, she read off a scroll of Mage Hand and was preparing to open the doors with it when a rapidly-approaching rumbling clangour distracted her attention.

South Tower, Third Floor, (Garden of Death)

Gorfang in his turn emerged into the garden level, and was likewise taken aback. However, as he turned away, something familiar caught his eye, a bush he remembered from somewhere. A moment later he had it; it had poisonous berries.... he looked around again. It was true; every single plant here was lethally poisonous or alchemically useful. Only a skilled poisonmaker could hope to walk through the glades without danger of death. Gorfang was a skilled poisonmaker. He'd hoped for treasure in the Tower; blades, or magic, or gold; but this was a form of treasure he had never expected. The tower shook violently as a dragon smashed into it somewhere, and bits of rubble fell from the ceiling, some splashing into the lake. Time was short. Cursing, Gorfang turned away and onto the stairs again.

Halfway down, he heard the sound of mailed feet hurrying up towards him. Knowing that Lynien could never sound like that, he considered a second, and then tucked his head down and rolled down the spiral flight. The two Kin were caught completely flat-footed. One managed by a miracle to grab a cresset and haul himself out of Gorfang's path, but the other was bowled over and carried down to the next level, where he sprawled out of the stairwell onto the floor. Gorfang gave him no chance to recover, killing him where he lay, before spinning to confront his companion as he charged out of the stairwell in pursuit. The fight was short and vicious. As the second Kin dropped, Gorfang heard Lynien's voice from nowhere say "Shh!", and then the mage-hand pushed the doors open.

Skufruss' throne room had suffered badly. The dais was empty, and the Lord of Tarlanor's throne lay battered and dented half-way across the room. The huge windows behind the throne were gone, and the opening was much enlarged; fragments of masonry were still falling from the edges. Half-way into the room, slick with rain, was a massive blue dragon, its swordlike claws buried in the stone flags to give it purchase as it climbed inside. Its' head turned as it saw the door open, and clearly it didn't expect anyone but enemies within the Tower. Its mouth opened wide, and a staggering thunderclap filled the throne-hall, blasting out all the remaining windows. The whole floor was lit up by the actinic blue blast, and great pieces were blasted off the central pillar and stairhead. Chunks of hot, sparking stone whirred past Gorfang and Lynien with a noise like startled partridges.

Before anyone else could move, Gorfang was walking across the thronehall, tiny residual charges sparking as the current leaped from the wet floor to his sodden boots. Reaching the dragon, he saw that its' eyes were red with fury and rage, so he battered it across the head with the flat of his blades, shouting as he did so; "Friend!" whack! "On!" whack! "Your!" whack! "Side!" whack! Slowly the red faded from the dragon's eyes and it seemed to recollect the words of Saryn Darrath. "Oh," it rasped hoarsely, "you. Get out of the way, will you?" Without waiting for an answer, it released its claws and slid backwards out of the rent in the wall, spreading its' wings to catch the storm-wind and get itself airborne again.