Eberron: End of Chapter 1 (part 2)

The last thing Tess heard as blackness overcame her was the priestess exclaiming "That's impossible!"

Ten minutes later Raza came out of the church and told us the baby had been born and that he was healthy and normal-looking (and acting). Tosh asked about Tess and Raza sadly shook her head. He nodded and started giving orders to gather the baby and her up. He and ANtonius would be teleporting up to talk to them, while baby would be going on the airship with Drace & Co, Melendra, the half giant, Raza and Guage.

Guage came out of the church with Tess, wrapped in a blanket. He slowly walked her over to Tosh and held her body out to him. He took her and we teleported up.

The dragon was suspicious. She wanted verification that this was indeed Tess, so Tosh unwrapped her and tore open the back of her robe to reveal her mark. The dragon then commanded Tosh to step away from the body so she could destroy it, and commanded the baby be brought to her as well. Tosh argued that the baby was not human and could not therefore bear the mark of death. He knew it was shaky ground to start this conversation on, but he mentioned the prophecy. He told he was aware they had seen the END of the prophecy, but most of it was unseen by dragon eyes. He said he had access to all of the prophecy they did not, and wanted to make a deal. She asked what he wanted and he said he wanted her to translate the entire prophecy for him, so they could ALL know what it said in its entirety. The dragon laughed and said she expected him to use it to leverage his own life, but Tosh smiled and said "If you think I see my life as that important, you do not know the Kalashtar."

Behind him, another voice chimed in. "Dear boy...you don't have to go to all that trouble to learn the prophecy. I can tell you exactly what it says."

Lord Tegarius stepped onto the roof, looking like he'd been there all along, unnoticed. Tosh sighed....this kept getting better and better. Tegarius continued "However...I won't bore you with all the details. I'm just here for my lovely wife and new son. Where is he now?"

Tosh looked past the demon to the dragon. "I'm having trouble figuring out why you aren't destroying everything on this rooftop right now."

The demon responded. "Well you see that's the rub. She can't. Tess here is mine, and she knows it. Going against that would be....well going against the rules, wouldn't it? Besides...she can't kill me anyway. I may not be at my full power, but this avatar is, well...let me show you."

He gestured at Antonius and asked him to run him through. Antonius looked reluctant, but as it was a demon, he saluted and stabbed him through the chest with his sword. The bloodless blade hung halfway through him as he smiled and walked closer to her "What's wrong....cat got your tongue?"

The dragon snarled at him, but made no move to respond in any way. Tegarius gestured towards the sword. "You can pull it out now.". He looked down towards Tess's body. "You see...at the heart of it all I'm a family man. Sure the girl leaves something to be desired right NOW...but soon enough she will be...perfect." He rounded on Tosh. "Now....where..is..my..son?"

At that moment, Antonius grabbed Tosh and threw a leg out to touch Tess's body as well, and teleported down into the market. The dragon's roar echoed througout Sharn. Tosh recovered for a moment and grabbed Tess, looking at Antonius. "If she wasn't ticked off before....she sure as hell is NOW." and we ran.

Tegarius appeared in front of us. "You know it doesn't have to be this difficult."

Tosh's soulblade flashed into being as he infused it with the holy energy of Il Yannah...something he hadn't done in a long time. He didn't even stop running by as he growled "I wonder...are you so immune to everything?" and stabbed him. The demon's form gave out a howl of pain and blew into a smoke cloud.

But the dragon had found us.

Tosh looked back at Antonius and said "Take her and run." and advanced towards the dragon, almost feeling foolish in doing so. The airship came level with the market shelf we were on and Pai Mei and the elven twins jumped out. Tosh made mental contact with Drace and told him to get himself and his airship out of here. He had to get the baby as far away as possible. Drace nodded and moved the airship away.

The elven woman flung a blast of dark energy at the dragon, who summarily ignored it.

The demon appeared behind her and said "Why don't you try tapping into your true potential?". She looked back almost as if she knew him and nodded. Her hands glowed with hellfire and she blasted again. This time the blast left a glowing sear across the dragon's face. She smiled and said "Thanks. Now go away." and blasted towards him. He appeared agian behind her, tsking. Tosh stabbed at him with the holy soulknife again, and he disappeared and appeared again behind Tosh.

"Now now...stab me once, shame on you...."

Tosh swung around again and the blade passed through him. Tegarius smiled and said "Let's end this."

Tosh scowled as a cold rage took him. "I agree. GO...HOME."

Tosh's eyes glowed a bright white as he used a technique perfected against banishing Quori...but a demon was just as extraplanar as Tosh's sworn enemies. The demon's smile faded somewhat as the outer edges of his form began to swirl and dissipate.

Tegarius' look changed to outright rage as he grabbed for Tosh's neck, but there were no more fingers to grab with. He snarled "This isn't over! The girl is mine and there is nothing you can do to stop it!!"

Tosh brought his face even with, and very close to, the demon's, and very softly said "We'll see about that." as the demon dissipated in a cloud of ash.

Meanwhile the half giant grew to 20 feet tall and grabbed the dragon's tail, and Pai Mei also grew and engaged her. Blasts of eldritch fire and psionic energy slammed into her, a wrestling match between the dragon and two giant-sized combatants, even Antonius returned. But the dragon was still winning. It flung Pai Mei back into a building and Tosh threw up his Quori "disguise" and advanced towards her. She batted him back into a wall and, now having thought he was a worthy kill, reared up to strike.

The strike never came....a blue-white light came from above and hit her hard, blowing her over the edge and into the depths below. With a frustrated roar she realized there was no room to right herself as she fell.

The captain had returned. At the bow of his ship, wreathed in a bluish white light, sat a small frog, staring blankly down at us.

We piled on the ship and started out of Sharn. Tosh contacted Zhen and told her to stay safe and stay hidden and he would be back for her, and we left Sharn at full speed. But in the night, the lights of Sharn were eclipsed as the dragon once again took flight in pursuit.

Discussing our options, we first wrapped pillows the sheet Tess was wrapped in and dropped it over the side. The dragon dove, which bought us a couple more minutes. We discussed abandoning the ship, when Tosh felt a tug on his pant leg. The frog had gotten up on two feet and walked over to him. Tosh sat in front of the frog and made a mental connection.

"There is another way."

Tosh raised an eyebrow. "I'm willing to listen to alternatives."

"The captain has a method of moving the ship very quickly out of the way. He will be reluctant to use it, but if you presented it as the only alternative....well I can distract the dragon until he is able to activate it."

"I see. I'll need a moment to get off the ship. My path lies elsewhere and I have someone I need to retrieve still in Sharn."

"Hurry then. I will be ready."

Drace's voice cut into the mental conversation. "Um...what are you doing with my frog?"

Tosh stood up and asked the captain about the frog's claims. The captain very hesitantly said he had a device capable of teleporting the ship away, but had no way of knowing where they'd end up. Tosh made it clear the alternative was losing his ship and he sighed and said to give him the signal.

Tosh ran down into the hold and found Guage standing guard outside the cargo room, where Raza and Melendra were watching over the baby. He stared at Guage for a moment and told him they would be trying to go to Xen'drik. He asked Guage to make sure Melendra and Tess's baby were safe. Guage looked back evenly and nodded. "I will protect them. Nothing will happen to either the baby or the girl."

Not having much of a choice but to trust him, Tosh said he'd be back eventually and had Antonius dimension door them up on deck. The frog had zoomed back towads the dragon and was shooting bolts of light at her as she tried to swat him. Tosh gave the signal, the frog came back to the ship, Antonius dimension doored them down to the ground, a glow surrounded the ship and it seemed to be pulled into a vortex in front of it for a moment. The two took refuge in some rocks as the dragon roared in frustration and flew off towards the ocean.