The Dragon Hatchery

"You look fast on your feet. Maybe you should hold the key in case we're making a quick escape."

Riardin extends the key to Elceran...

Elceran takes the key and puts it in his belt pouch.

"Faster than either of you, most likely. But you may have to carry the li- Clarice on the way out if we have to run for it."

"I’d feel better locking it behind us, but no matter what we do, let’s do it quick and get out of here." Clarice adds, following the others.

Elceran locks the gate and returns the key to his pouch. "Quick seems to be a relative term at this point. How long have we even been down here?"

"I've been caged for 10 days. Feels like I've only been out for a moment...

the gate opens with a click, and a creak. You move cautiously through, realizing now that the ground around your feet is stained with blood. Some of it very fresh looking. The heat and humidity stifling down here, dramatically different than the cool breezes at the top of the stairs.

Long shadows criss cross the floor in every direction, and the gate clangs shut behind you.

Clarice whispers quietly to the others.

"I think we've found what we're looking for."

She points off to the east and starts to slowly move off in that direction.

Riardin mutters under his breath, "This certainly isn't what I was looking for..."

But follows her further into the cavern anyway, weapons at the ready...

"Let's hope so." Elceran follows behind after locking the gate.

moving silently, you almost vanish into the shadows of the cave, and as you near the eggs you see the reason for the gate. Two drakes are curled up along side them. One seems to be fast asleep, while the other is busy at work licking itself.

"Not good!" Clarice whispers, coming to a dead stop. She slowly unhooks her crossbow and offers it, along with 10 bolts, to Riardin.

"Better than stabbing at the thing with a broken spear."

"Much better indeed...", Riardin whispers back, accepting the crossbow and loading it, laying the remaining bolts on the cave floor in front of him. "Any other bright ideas?"

"How many eggs are there?"

"Bright ideas? I wish I ha..." Clarice pauses mid sentence as an idea takes shape in her head.

"The gate! We could lock ourselves behind the gate and draw these beasties to us. Between the cross bow, some magic, and whatever else we can manage, we might be able to defeat these things without them being able to get to us. Zsa could even draw them to us and we'd be able to ambush them!"

Clearly excited by the idea, Clarice waits for the others to chime in.

"I'm all for not getting eaten today."

I guess it's time to open that gate back up then, Elceran", says Rairdin, swooping up the bolts from the ground, ready to move...

As the group nears the gate Clarice will once again call Zsa back to serve. With her arm extended Clarice spreads her fingers wide and chants a few quick words. With a muted *pop*, Zsa appears in front of her.

Hello once again, my friend. How would you like to play with some beasties?

Wait, do you think these things can breathe lightning like the half dragon? Maybe we shouldn't all be grouped together in the stairwell if that's the case...

"sorry Dahling? You want me to do what?"