5.22.21 - Tyranthraxus Takeover

Cannon was down and the rest of us were injured in some way. We were circling towards the jackal-headed creature when the ceiling above us split, revealing the rising sun above the city. Our only hope was that our allies would be able to fend off the threats above.

*The sun rose over the city of Phlan and the Auroch Riders approached from the east. They had had a hard three day ride to make it here by the time their princess had directed, but they had made it. Fistula McTavish took a moment to rally her riders before charging headfirst across the countryside to defend her home from the plotting of a draconic dictator. Meanwhile, a portal appeared in the center of town and the green fae and elves of the Quivering Forest poured forth led by the green hag. They set about taking down the dragon defenders of the town and bringing havoc throughout the town.*

 *Aleyd Burral led her ragged group of refugees to aid the adventurers who had promised to rid Phlan of the dragon if their group would help distract any other threats for as long as they could. Looking at those following her to battle, she could only hope the other allies that they had been promised could handle more of the brunt of the battle to come. Those following her might be determined to get their homes back but they were not fighters. Not even after the lessons Cannon had given them during his visits. With a shout, the group began their charge over the countryside toward their home. Aleyd looked out across the farmland to where she could see  massive cow like creatures also charging towards the outskirts of the town and she could only hope they were there for the same reason she was: to rid Phlan of the draconic influence. Meanwhile, the Bukavak collected his fae forces out in the sea, causing it to bubble and foam in their presence as they sought out the sewer entrances to enter the city and join the greener of their kin in wreaking havoc on those within the walls. As the allies began to converge on the town they all watched as the green wyrm crawled from what was once Valejo castle to let out a roar that shook the town before them.*

The jackal-headed creature rushed towards me. I just managed to stab them into stardust before I could only watch what I did next. My friends circled me and hit until the world faded to darkness and all I could see before my eyes were the outstretched arms of people from long ago.

*Aleyd tensed as she approached the farming areas on the outskirts of Phlan where she had seen the massive riders begin their raid, seemingly on the town. She braced herself for the massacre she could only assume had ensued in the village, so she was surprised when she crested the hill to find most of the riders had passed through leaving the area mostly untouched with only a few left behind rounding up some mounts for her group to aid their storming of Phlan. In particular, she was awed by the delicacy with which these riders were able to handle the much smaller horses than themselves and their mounts. She gave a nod of thanks to the female orc-giant who seemed to be leading the oversized brigade as they charged off together to save her home.*

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	*Now that they were able to cover more ground, Aleyd set those who had received mounts to storm the newly fortified walls to allow easier access to the city and fire on the horde of dragons within. Meanwhile, the Bukavack recalled his fae to the ocean to feign defeat to give the enemies a false sense of security before resurging even stronger than before. However, the green hag and her companions made no effort to give their enemies hope, but instead sought to drain the life and vitality from all the plants that had begun to take over the city. She knew the green dragon would focus his power on controlling the overgrowth if he was given the chance, so she herself focuses on draining all the life from the plants within the castle walls serving as his lair.*

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I am told that the jackal-headed creature reappeared over my body where they cackled and pointed their finger at Rhys. Rhys said that it looked like a jagged purple lightning bolt was flying towards her before she was engulfed in energy that turned progressively darker until she almost fell over. Then, She-rah unleashed her ax at the creature and upon contact they turned to stardust again before disappearing for good this time.

*Fistula and her riders made it into the streets of Phlan before the refugees where they started using whatever means necessary to intimidate the guards into running away or surrendering to them for capture while the Aleyd and her refugees took control of the ballistae on the walls to shoot down as many of the many remaining dragons that they could.*

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	*The green hag and her green fae had finished destroying all the possible plant life that the Maimed Virulence could possibly use against them while the Bukavauk and his fae began to seek out the strongest of those who were still putting up a fight against the allies of the adventurers. At this point, Vorgansharax could tell that his hold on the city was lost, so he took to the air on his unsteady wings signaling to his forces that it was time to retreat. The dragon’s forces finally disintegrated under the pressure applied by the unlikely allies and the cowardice of their leader.*

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Canon brought me back from the arms of those from long ago to rejoice at our success in finally defeating Tyranthraxus. We took a short rest before we returned to our gaseous forms to search for the cultist who had managed to escape us before our true foe had arrived. Sneaking in this way, we were able to enter a large chamber within the upper castle where there was a great deal of chanting and talking. Inside, there were six cultists, one of which was seated in a large chair at the end of the hall in front of a large statue of someone who looked kinda like him, with a draconic arm. The one seated was the one who had previously run away from the chamber with the pool and he was now holding a large green orb while surrounded by mist. Alongside the cultists there were also a few small green and black dragons who were focused intently on the cultist who had the orb.

We took our time getting into positions to ambush the group while Cannon set about silencing the chanting from the guy with the orb. Once that happened, we sprung into battle where She-rah decapitated one of the dragons in one swing and another tripped in its own grease. Cannon managed to get the weird orb away from the cultist so then the leftover dragons seemed confused and flew off. The green cultist who had had the orb took off into the castle again, so Rhys became Tiger-Rhys to chase him down since he had teleported away during the fight while I searched the rest of the keep as a ghost to make sure we had done it; that we had saved Phlan from that tyrant Tyranthraxus and the Maimed Virulence.

Once we were all back together again, we took a closer look at the orb where we discovered that it was an Orb of Dragonkind. Apparently, they are very rare because only five exist; one for each color of chromatic dragon. The one we found was green but seemed to also work on black dragons. After our realization, we decided to head up into the town to celebrate the liberation of our home amongst our allies.

The streets were filled with people celebrating their liberation. Aleyd Burral was hoisted onto the shoulders of the revelers along with some of our other allies who had helped drive off the dragon's forces. We took the evening to rest, recover, and celebrate the end of the reign of terror. While winding down for the night—or maybe early morning—we discussed our future endeavors. Cannon said he would like to return the sword to the tomb of its rightful owner, and She-rah mentioned the solstice at the end of the month where we would need to be at the meeting of the orcs of Thar to plan how to deal with her uncle and the human rangers before a war starts over the marshes. I also pipe up that I would like to try to help fix the mess I have created involving Elisande and the hags, but know that will be on the same timeline as the solstice. After our planning, we all tried to settle in, though there was a great deal of mumbling coming from Cannon's side of the room. Something about an egg and his beard? (Level up to 12!)