Moonbeam to Dragon

**"Moonbeam to Dragon"** is the seventeenth episode of *Mountain of Mystery*, airing on July 11, 2023.

The session was DMed by TanisJr93 and hosted on his channel on Twitch.

## Summary

*...continued from session sixteen*
After Sado prevents the spellcasting Kobold from escaping the skirmish, Lazarus kills the Kobold that attempted to flee the fight with a crossbow bolt and Aboukir kills the leader with his warhammer; Prints then strikes the remaining Kobold soldier with two *magic missile*s, and her spell creates a surge of wild magic that causes skeletal hands to emerge from the swamp around her. Cash hits the remaining Kobold with his warhammer, after which Kahlan strikes it with her father's Kingsguard dagger; as the blade pierces the Kobold's heart, Kahlan and Cash both hear an excruciating psychic screech, after which the Kobold's body folds in on itself as if being swallowed by a black hole, collapsing completely into the dagger, which then falls to the ground.

Kahlan retrieves her dagger, finding it slightly warm, while Sado searches the remains of the spellcasting Kobold, discovering a ledger written in Draconic listing what appears to be the contents of a hoard. Lazarus attempts to help Prints escape the skeletal hands dragging her into the swamp, and the two are carried back to land by Trouble in her crocodile form; the group rests shortly to recuperate, during which a bask of crocodiles are drawn to the location by the scent of blood, and Trouble convinces them to eat the dead while staying away from the living. Kahlan confirms that no one in the party can cast *Identify*, and one of the crocodiles approaches Trouble to ask if the group is searching for a "big black scaly thing that fucks shit up."

She confirms that they are, and the crocodile reveals that he and his kin can no longer enter a particular area of the Swamp that has been corrupted, indicating that he would be grateful if the party eliminated the dragon; he leads the group through the marsh for about an hour, during which Kahlan is swarmed by mosquitos until Trouble speaks with the insects and persuades them not to bite the Tiefling. The party eventually reaches the border of an inhospitable area where the insects thin out and the air smells acrid, and the crocodile indicates that the dragon is lairing somewhere in the region. The group continues into the area, and Lazarus uses his Psychic Whispers to connect with Sado, Kahlan, and Prints as both Sado and Lazarus scout stealthily ahead and notice pools of bubbling green liquid.

Aboukir drops a broken branch into the liquid and watches it dissolve, confirming that the pools are filled with acid; Trouble instinctually casts *Mage Armor* on herself, and the group proceeds through the thick overgrowth and fog before eventually hearing the sounds of grinding gears not too far distant. Sado and Lazarus both spot a pair of mechanized draconic warwagons, hearing the frenetic echoing of Kobolds arguing with each other in Draconic from within the clockwork constructs as they remain stuck in the mud of the Swamp. Everyone in the party manages to hide except for Cash, who is promptly struck by a Spitfire attack from one of the warwagons, after which Trouble summons the Spirit Totem of the Unicorn and a *Moonbeam*, damaging the wagon; Kahlan casts *Sanctuary* on Prints and *Invisibility* on herself, after which the second wagon attempts to make a Spitfire attack that misfires, damaging the wagon itself instead.

Prints then casts *Puppet* on the gunner of the first wagon, causing him to leap to his death in a pool of acid, and Lazarus strikes the wheel of the second wagon with a crossbow bolt before hiding again. Remaining stuck, the first wagon makes another Spitfire attack on Cash, missing him and shattering a boulder instead, after which he casts *Sacred Flame* to damage the machine, at which point both wagons issue a resounding alarm. Another wagon operator is killed by Trouble's *Moonbeam* as Kahlan drinks her potion of acid resistance, after which the black dragon Umbrah emerges from the nearest pool of acid and unleashes a devastating breath weapon that severely injures Cash; Trouble attacks the second wagon with her *Moonbeam*, killing another operator as Prints takes her own potion of acid resistance before casting *Wither and Bloom* to heal the Cleric and injure the dragon.

Lazarus then moves and attempts to hide again, not realizing that black dragons possess blindsight, and fires a crossbow bolt that the dragon smacks out of the air. Sado then uses his *Step of the Wind* to leap onto the first warwagon, knocking another operator from the machine into a pool of acid and commandeering the construct, successfully striking the dragon with a Spitfire attack; the final two operators attempt to flee the machine, but obey the Monk when he orders them to stay inside. Cash casts *Call Lightning* to destroy the other wagon and kill the rest of its operators, after which Aboukir delivers a series of psionically-amplified attacks to the dragon with his warhammer before taking his own potion of acid resistance. The dragon then grapples the Mammothari in its claws and unleashes its breath weapon again, injuring him as well as Trouble and Cash before dropping Aboukir into a pool of acid.

The dragon then flees back into the acidic pits, and Aboukir spots it heading toward the northeast as the group rests long enough to cast *Cure Wounds* on Trouble before resolving to pursue the dragon and finish the fight. Sado orders the two surviving Kobolds to lead the party to their master, and they do so, piloting the remaining warwagon through the swamps and avoiding the dragon's traps as Trouble watches them operate the machine. The Kobolds deliver the group to the mouth of a cave, then flee into the swamp themselves as the party prepares to confront the dragon in its lair.

*...continued in session eighteen*
## Notes

* The events of the session occurred on the afternoon of 28 Cuersaar 839 PD.
* Cash Goldcrest was played by N3rdyTeacher and DM TanisJr93 for the session due to Zach being unable to play.
* Alternate titles for the episode include, but are not limited to:
	+ "Grand Theft Kobold"

## Quotes

* "Oh, she's got her dad's aim." – Lazarus Oldman
* "More brave adventurers... think they can take my treasure. Let's see if you can last longer than the others." – Umbrah
* "I don't want him dead; he *is* my nephew." – Megquins
* "The dead ones were alive, and then they fucked with the live ones, and now they're not." – Trouble
* "Right! He says to go further that direction, and we will find a place that's not a hospital, and, um, there there will be a dragon." – Trouble
* "It's ten Kobolds in a VW Bus." – Archaeowolf
* "I don't know what you're doing here, but if you're going to stay, hide. If you're not, fucking beat it." – Trouble

## Episode

* Twitch
* YouTube