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Not looking back as Tyrin left him, Cailidin instead took a step forward. The chill seemed to be coming from that room, though neither the elf or human inside seemed to be undead. Either one of them was disguised, or there was something else in there, and based on the fact the human had been choked, and had felt the effects of it, he imagined it was the elf.

However, he lost the chance to decide. The man stood, slowly pulling himself to his feet and brushing his clothes down. Straightening himself out, he seemed to be talking to the elf, though Cailidin could not hear what. Walking closer in an attempt to hear something, he stopped once more as the elf simply left. Watching him hesitate at the door he walked away from him, and soon after the human left the room as well.

Moving towards him, Cailidin saw the man do the same, quickly walking towards him, a smile on his face. He spoke, and Cailidin listened, the man's voice deliberate yet fluid, and it showed his wisdom. Telling him to walk alongside him, he introduced himself as Eragia, and they headed back the way he had come, and it was time for him to speak.

"I hope you are not injured badly from what happened with the elf, and that you don't mind listening to what I have to say. My name is Cailidin, I am a druid, and have been journeying for many years now. I was led here by a letter I found on a dead tree, telling me of power to be found in Sharn. Once here, events worsened. The letter only seemed to serve to bring me here, and I have found nothing of this offer. I have, however found that the seals the Gatekeepers erected to keep Xoriat and our world apart are weakening."

His story nearing completion, Cailidin continued. "I encountered, not far from here, many citizens of this city, along with their guards, dead or unconscious. None of my spells managed to revive or heal them, and upon one of the walls I read words that seemed of a prophecy. It seemed to speak of the return of the Dael'kyr. I later experienced an incidence where reality confused itself, and awoke to find it had never happened. Now I have allies waiting outside the city to lead me to the Aal'Drash seals. Tyrin, however, provided the opportunity to both learn more, and warn people."

And now, he would ask questions. Hopefully Eragia was more believing than Tyrin had been. "Is there anything you know that may shed light on this entire thing, whether about the seals, the gatekeepers, Xoriat, or any ways of undoing the seals between the two planes?"

He saw the archers lips move, he heard the archer speak. He saw Armod in a battle stance, he saw Godhand watching. And he doubted any but Godhand saw him. Above the ship he levitated, enhancing powers already manifested, his senses improved, his defense enhanced, his mind split to manifest multiple powers simultaneously. He was ready. From here he would be able to manifest supporting, offensive, and defensive powers, and already he had one in mind.

Drawing in ectoplasm he started manifesting a creation spell on the ship below, while silently informing his companions that this was an ally. The material was shaped, his hands moving above to form the golem below. Its arms were large blades, starting from its elbows, and its legs were sturdy and strong. Spikes lined its arms, back and legs, and its head was pushed into its torso. The entire thing had a dull green shine to it, and though it wasn't pretty, it would be effective.

Golem created he manifested one last power in preparation. From a bag of holding at his waist he drew two dozen enchanted arrows, and he threw them in the air, spinning them around him telekinetically. It was a useful trick, and numerous guided enchanted arrows, thrust with the force of his powerful mind would aid Tharivol and his companions greatly.

Ready, he watched the deck, and he watched the skies. His eyes swept to the sea from time to time, and pierced the shadows. He saw his companions, now he simply had to find his enemies.

So much for the psions contribution. Only thing it was useful for was taking the first hit, and for letting Armod know he'd need some more speed to properly fight it. Snatching a potion from a case across his back he swallowed it down, and though it was tasteless and he felt little, he knew it worked.

Now it was to find the beast. Still crouching he moved slowly and quietly. He would likely have to fight by sound. And sound told him where it was. Not wanting to get too close, he would prefer it come to him, he grabbed another potion from its case. Holding his trident in one hand, he used the other to lob the potion in the general direction of the enemy, trusting in the ships supernatural nature to make it immune, or at least resistant to the flames that erupted moments later.

The meagre flames barely shed any light on the colossal figure. Colliding with it mid-air, the bottle erupted into flame amid the torso of the creature. What light it did provide show precious few details indicating what it was they were up against. But those details were renown throughout most of Eberron. The figure was that of a dragon. A particularly massive dragon, bigger, it seemed, that any dragon should ever be. In a word, impossible.

It took no notice of the firefly-like nuisance that had landed upon it. Instead, it's vicious maw rotated slightly to face it's next prey. Tharivol. Perfect target, having sought higher ground. The dragon reared back it's cloaked head, inhaling gallons of air. The luciferous red eyes glowed devilishly behind the unnatural darkness. There was intent behind those eyes.

There was hardly a second to react. With a sudden burst, pure force-magic, manifested in the form of a breath weapon, shot towards the psion. With a twist of fortune, the cone of force had been aimed solely at Tharivol, and not in a downwards arc towards the ship. This had been only a false pretense of hope that the dragon had forgotten about it's victims below; they were next.

Tharivol took action instantly, picking up on the attack. With no time to spare his split mind manifested two powers. Ectoplasm drawing in front of him, it was not enough to fully stop the blast of force. As he teleported to the ships deck it felt as though he had been smashed full on by a stone wall. Dizzy from the effect, he fell into a complete crouch, steadying himself with one arm.

Hearing the plunk has his arrows fell into the deck behind him he looked upwards. They were fighting a dragon, and a massive one at that. Though he had survived that attack, they would need to find a way to defeat the creature. First thing first however, he needed to see it. Manifesting a psionic sight he looked to where it should be. And saw nothing. His eyes sweeping the sky he failed to find the dragon.

Great, it'll stay invisible. He had to think of something. For now though, he would hope his allies would prove useful. He would need a bit of time to think.

Toothpicks they were. Without no display of effort - for really, it required none - the dragon simply turned it's head towards them, having each one bounce harmlessly off it's muzzle. The crimson eyes burned brighter for a moment as it dropped in altitude - apparently the dragon had been flying - swinging it's building-thick tail towards those on deck.

Godhand raised his hands towards the heavens. For the first time since the battle had started, he showed recognition that the dragon was there. "You three face a dragon of legend!" If they could see his face, he would have been grinning. His back, however, was still to them. He gazed out into open sea: towards Xen'drik.

"This," he explained, "is what awaits us. This is the Dragon Below, Khyber!" That name echoed more than any other he spoke. The force dragon - Khyber - paused in it's attack for a moment to eye he who had called it. The pause was only brief. The next instant, the impending tail swipe was once more a threat.

Jumping upwards and backwards, Armod thrust his trident out, scratching it along the massive tail of the dragon, and soon after found a space between its scales. Feet planted along the tail, along with the trident pushed between a few scales, he used the increased agility the potion gave him to push himself backwards and down. Falling he grabbed the railing of the warship with one hand, and pulled himself aboard.

Staying low he moved forward, and then stopped, watching the dragon. The feat he just did was more than he usually needed, and he was happy he survived that. But he didn't know how often. Finally, he changed position and moved towards Cain. They would have to move apart, but he needed to know how to fight this thing. He was good at melee, perhaps if they were on the ground, but here?

He didn't know who this Khyber was, nor how powerful it truly was, but he knew they would have to fight. Gripping Cains shoulder he shook him once, to get him to turn his attention. "Cain, we're fighting it regardless. How do we fight a dragon?"

As the name registered in his mind, he moved himself up with the remaining time he had his levitation. The tail was massive, but he moved quickly, and pulling his legs up, barely missed being smashed. Moving himself down, he fell the last few feet, and quickly scrambled into a semi-crouch, allowing himself to think about the name and the fight.

Khyber? Though he knew little about dragons, he knew the name. And for something this powerful, what better than to weaken it? A power he had learned recently, and a powerful one at that. He saw the dragons eyes, and he knew of the dragons size. That was enough to pinpoint its location. Concentrating, he then manifested the power, pouring energy into it to increase its power.

In the next instant, the dragon was outlined, as a massive pillar of black flame, drawn from the void and filled with negative energy rose into the sky. He heard no sound from the beast, but he was confident in that powers ability. If he had been caught in the flames, he would have been significantly weakened. With the dragon, he hoped the pillar weakened it enough that they could hurt it.

To his companions, he voiced his next intentions, ringing softly into their minds. "I'm going to attempt to hurt the creature from a little closer. I'm heading to its back. Do whatever you can to hurt the thing, work to kill, or at least drive it off."

Sparkles moving around him, where Tharivol had stood moments before was empty. On the dragons back, he now had to simply hurt it. Gripping the scales, he crawled across its back, against the wind, and towards its head. Though it was still hard to see, this close he had some concept of where it was. And this close, he was in danger of its claws, its teeth, and its tail. He would have moments to manifest a few powers before he had to either leave or become ethereal. Or else he would die.

Feeling the wind beating more, he knew he was where he wanted to be, at its wing. He hoped acid would damage it, he hoped it was weakened enough to be hurt. Manifesting another power, he opened his mouth wide, and spewed a stream of acid out, reminicent of what Khyber had spat at him earlier. The breath weapon flew out to hit the base of the dragons wing, or if he was wrong in location, somewhere along its back. All he knew was he hit, and he waited to see if it did damage. If it did, he would use another, if it didn't, he would summon some pests and get off of this creature. Before he could decide, he simply grabbed onto its scales, and watched.

(( Note. The black pillar was called Stygian Conflagation. There is no saving throw, and anything caught in its path loses 1D4 levels. Every two extra power points put into it add one more level taken off. I put 20 in, and thus took approximately 12 levels off of Khyber. Also, 24 hours later it gets saving throws to regain the levels. All of this is DM willing of course. Feel free to edit this note out once you've read it. ))

Cain stood speaking to thin air. Paying no heed to what Cain had been saying, Godhand had merely disappered mid-sentence. There was nothing more to it. No reply, no indication of hope that this 'Khyber' could be beaten. Perhaps that was an indication it couldn't. None of the three involved in the fight had much of a choice, however; Godhand instructed them to fight, and so fight they would. The only other option was death. A god-like dragon on a boat wasn't good for much else.

Godhand stepped through folds in reality to bring himself up beside Tharivol. He was sitting too-casually upon the dragon's back, "You've weakened it. For that I congratulate you. Now, however, you're in it's mercy, with nowhere to run. Wrong idea." Well, at least he was providing some help.

Shadowy flames danced across the giant creature, enveloping it with their malevolent energy. To the eye, they had been useless. It wasn't until a diminutive, faint reddish fissure along the dragons' snout formed that any real consequences could be observed. The black fire jumped into the crack, vanishing with a sound like water evaporating. Khyber roared in protest.

The next two things happened simultaneously, and both were entirely unexpected. The dragon did not counter with physical prowess or deathly innate weapons. Instead, seemingly coming from within, it's heart seemed to pulsate visibly. The pulses could be heard, too, for the brief time between when they began and when the attack came.

An outward burst of energy, the same Force-magic like essence that it had breathed earlier. It stretched, hunting down all within it's grasp, expanding in a sphere shape. The energy was not only tangible, this time it was visible. A clear wall of writhing magic, emanating from Khyber. It moved with unparalleled speed. Tharivol was caught first in the blast, having been too close to escape sucessfully. Even then, it grew outwards, threatening to swallow Cain and Armod. Godhand, yet again, had mysteriously evaporated.

After the initial blast, another booming shudder from Khyber signaled the beginning of another attack. Again manifesting as force energy, a swirling storm began, encasing Khyber and Tharivol with it. As the maelstrom shrieked, ever-moving in it's spherical pattern, it seemed to blow away the deepened darkness that had prevailed over the area. Slightly more visible than before, Khyber's light-refracting scales twisted as it began to bear down upon the two small men on deck, jaws open wide.