Dragonstone 63

**Chapter 63**

Egil declares that they must rescue Alos, and Samurai Chick, to my vast non-surprise, argues against this. Ferai points out that he said he wouldn't try to rescue them if they were captured, frittering away whatever of my goodwill she had earned. A brief debate follows, which Delon cuts off by pointing out that either way they still have to get in, and Alos is a darn good distraction.

I'll just note that Alos is only in this situation because he was helping these dickweeds. They drugged, kidnapped, bullied and manipulated him into helping them - even if their ultimate intentions were noble - so they are directly to blame for his current situation. Samurai Chick's arguing in favor of abandoning him - to be tortured to death, if past experience is any guide - therefore makes her look less like a pragmatic-but-honorable warrior and more like a callous, heartless bitch who discards her so-called allies the moment it becomes convenient to do so. \~/

Our Remaining Heroes begin climbing the tower, a process that takes a full page, and yet which proves remarkably easy. There's no difficulty, even for the less-experienced climbers or for the extremely short elf, and it's even noted that if the goblins were at all alert the intruders might have been spotted. Samurai Chick points to the *Brise,* now in the harbor next to Doomy's dhow, and this is treated as a startling revelation despite that they knew Alos intended to stay aboard, and therefore if he had been caught, the boat had to have been taken as well. Geniuses, these guys.

Our Heroes finally reach a window and climb into a conveniently empty room. It's actually even more convenient, as there's a large ironbound box inside, which I assume looks something like this:

Ferai goes to pick the locks on it - there are three - as Arin gives it a good stare with her Sparkly Random Elf Powers. She declares that it has an aura, which information proves utterly useless as she cannot tell anything about it. Ferai picks all three locks, which takes a page and might've been tense in the hands of a better writer, pausing after each one so Arin can reassure her that the box's aura hasn't changed. Finally, Ferai opens the box. This causes the aura to change color (to what - or from what - we aren't told) but nothing seems to come of it.

The box proves to contain various scrolls and papers, which inspires Ferai to say "shit" in French. She and Arin start pawing through the papers and throwing what they don't want on the floor. In only a couple of sentences, Arin finds a scroll that details the precise location of the Jellybean. It's *"chained by the Kraken Pool, in a chest of Dwarven-made silver."* The Kraken Pool is in a cave under Dragons' Roost, accessible only through an entrance on a ledge guarded by the dragons *"for it is their crossing point to the Dragonworld of Kelgor,"* or through an underwater swim against a powerful current.

. . . why did Doomy keep detailed directions to the location of a priceless artifact that he himself hid? \~/

Abruptly, Doomy says he wondered what brought Our Heroes into his tower. Before anyone can react, he - presumably - throws some sort of alchemical gas-bomb, as there's the sound of glass shattering and *"An odor filled the room."* Our Heroes promptly pass out, and the chapter ends.

Drinks: 2

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