Thread: Dragon's Hoard

Ling had ignored most of the activities of the night, instead settling with getting an early sleep. He was not the chivalrous sort, that sort of behavour tended to get a man killed, nor was he stupid enough to confront the groups barbarian about his behavour with the women of the party. Sure if it came to it, he'd slice the brutes throat if he crossed the line into raping them, but only when there was no danger to himself involved. A life time of aquiring information and theft had made such an attitude necessary. Waking early, even before the Paladin, who'd been pretty active during the night, the man donned his armour once more. He typically didn't wear armour, finding the freedom of clothing much better for his work. But they were just going to be hunting a beast, he'd take the trade off rather than get unlucky and not have the leather between his skin and claws. When Calista woke he only gave her a passing glance before moving off to idely scout around the camp site. He wasn't chivalrous, but he wasn't going to let the Paladin catch him peeking on her dressing, he'd rather keep in her good books before going into battle. So he left to scout, returning once she was done getting ready, helping rouse the others. The climb wasn't too difficult for him and they soon reached the destination, a cave, larger than any the man had seen before. Course his eyes wern't on the features of the place, for he soon saw the gold. Ling's eyes lit up, the first thought being on scooping up as much of the coin and gems up before the rest of his companions. But he kept a hold on his greed, proceeding to slowly enter the cave, eyes darting around for ambush. No simple animal would of gathered such a horde and no humanoid would leave it lying around like this, so he suspected a trap. But the more he walked in, looking for signs, he could see none. Relaxing somewhat, Ling bent down picking up one of the coins, inspecting the markings that dated this thing long before the lifetime of any member of the party. That was when Celista started to panic and ordered them to flee. At those words, Ling quickly understood what was happening. This was no man or beast, nor was it a Wyvern or any of the lesser mythical creatures, it had to be the king of them all. As the roar came, Ling didn't need another warning to bolt. Too late though as the shadow was already defending upon the cave mount as the last dragon returned to his home. Ling, out of options, dove for cover, hiding behind the rocky outcrops and mounds of gold on the other side of the mouth from Celista. Even if the hiding was ineffective against the dragon, spreading out would help in fighting it. As the beast landed, Ling began to inspect the beast, his previous thought on fighting quickly dwindling in chances of success. This beast was far too large and old for them to handle, their weapons could barely break through its scaled hide. Still Ling picked out a few weak points, tiny gaps between the scales of the belly, the eyes and nose and most of all, the giant balls this clearly male creature possessed. Pulling out a throwing knife, Ling got ready to strike. They couldn't take this thing in a straight up battle, but maybe a sucker punch would allow atleast some of the group to escape. So he took aim at the crown jewles and waited for any other member of the party to make their move, hoping the Dragon couldn't see his hiding spot.