06.4 One Last Time

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Kalans Revenge Mercenaries
Company members:-
Taran – Half Elf Fighter/Priest of Mannanan Mac Lir, cousin to Carinne and Galvish
Carinne Rhianne Talynnart – Half Elf Ranger/Mage, Cousin to Taran and Galvish
Galvish – Half Elf Fighter/Thief, Cousin to Taran and Carinne
Krachtig – A hard to find Gnome
Barrigan Stonebeak – Dwarf Fighter/Priest, Company Engineer.
Lanneus Tuard – Paladin of Manannan Mac Lir
Saeryn Ghent – Fighter – (Kalans Sister)

The Pyramid and the Dragon

Following our last foray into the swamp we think we have broken the back of evil forces, although know we have to return to deal with the pyramid and the Black Dragon.  We take time to rest up and attempt to scry but this fails.  Realizing that they are trying to hide something we assemble our group and gate in.  The clearing appears deserted and after finding one of the tents empty, we converge on the pyramid.  Barrigan casts a rock to mud spell under the glowing orb at the top but the spell fizzles away, there appears to be an anti magic shell surrounding the top.  He and Carinne then use their spells to melt away lower portions of the structure.  This catches the attention of some of the swamp denizens and we turn to face half a dozen of the large black lizard men on the ground and a group of elven warriors and druid emerge from the other side.  Galvish and Lanneus face down the elves while Taran, Barrigan and Saeryn go toe to toe with the lizard creatures.  Carinne fires arrows into the various combats from a remote vantage point, while Krachtig is nowhere to be seen.  Just as we are getting the upper hand on the ground a massive black dragon appears and a jet of acid shoots forth from its maw, we hear a gnome squeal and Galvish takes a serious amount of damage from this attack.
Saeryn rushes to attack the dragon while Taran finishes off the last of the lizard men. Barrigan is held back to heal Galvish.  Saeryns head is separated from her shoulders by a mighty blow of the dragons tail, Taran then steps in to rain blows on the creature as does Barrigan, Carinne has some luck with hitting the creature with magic missiles.  Lanneus is busy chopping his way through the elves.
Taran is the next to feel the might of the dragons attacks and reels back bleeding heavily, necessitating some rapid healing.  Galvish steps back into the fray and land some mighty blows with his dragon slaying sword but is next to be felled by the mighty attacks of this beast, although Barrigan has severed a leg from the dragon, limiting it’s mobility and reducing its attacks.  It takes a powerful elixir to bring Galvish back to life.  Barrigan is next to be dropped by the creature but manages to keep his head on his shoulders. It is left to Carrinne with her deadly arrow fire and a blow from Taran to finally fell this beast.  
Kachtig finally puts in an appearance as he sneaks up to stab the druid, between him and Lanneus they manage to kill this last foe.
Barrigans wounds are tended and we pour curing spell after curing spell into Galvish to bring him back to full strength.  We look around and gather up a massive amount of treasure, not only from the dragon but also the druids, elves and other evil creatures we have been assailing for the last week or so.
We finally are ready to melt the upper portion of the pyramid to submerge the glowing sphere into the mud, as we do it starts to pulse with an increasing rate, not wanting to hang around and see what happens we fold out of there.  Seconds later we arrive in the town where all this started and a moment later a huge explosion is seen in the jungle where we had been shortly before.
The townsfolk are happy to hear of the end of the death cult and the demise of the dragon and should hopefully be safer in their wanderings.  We restore life to Saeryn and transport ourselves back to Jans Landing where we can look at all the booty we have gathered and then spend winter here before accepting our next assignment.
Some patrols are made in this time to get some of the new recruits some experience but no real danger is faced.
Taran holds a lavish housewarming party at his newly completed farmhouse and the locals bring in some grand presents of furniture to turn the house into a home.
Lord Arlos is constructing a monument to our dear departed leader Kalan Ghent, this is a touching gesture and some of us wonder whether we will be remembered so fondly if tragedy further strikes our close knit group.