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zippdementia · 4 years ago

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Part 93 Alignment May Vary: A Series of Side Quests

ALast time, I introduced the concept of how I’m handling the pre-final battle side quests, which will influence how that battle goes. I’m taking a lot of direction from the RPG Blades in the Dark for this, which I highly recommend as a must-read for any DM who wants to take their game to the next level. Even if you don’t end up playing Blades in the Dark, the way it presents how to run a satisfying game and how to keep your sessions focused on actions, obstacles, and consequences, is incredible reading. For these side quests, I’ve really drawn on its lessons a lot in order to keep the action focused and our story moving. If I didn’t, the five missions I’m going to cover in this post could have taken us months to play, as we explored dungeons, fought various combats, and had downtime between each quest. As it is, we do all five of these (plus the one from the last blog post) in a single large, six hour session. In that time, the players roll a ton of dice, but we don’t run a single combat... though they overcome many many obstacles along the way.

Here, then, is a brief rundown of each of our little “side quests.” This is a long post, so enjoy!

Dragonmeet

Argent, their bronze dragon ally, tells the PCs that they need the support of the dragon council if they are to fend off Abenthy. The PCs agree.

The journey from Waterdeep to the Nether Mountains is more than six hundred miles. For three days, Argent flies you north, passing overhead many signs of ruined cities and villages. No people remain, but neither is their undead or monsters. Abenthy’s influence is silently spreading, and as it does, it is erasing this world of life, leaving nothing behind.

Arriving at the Nether mountains, the PCs are given audience by the council of the great Metalic Dragons. This is a scenario lifted out of Tyranny of Dragons, in a nod to our original planned adventure, four years ago. But whereas in that campaign, there are specific things each dragon wants, here I leave the direction of the conversation more up to the PCs. All three of them make a plea, roleplaying out the conversation, with me playing the dragons. Milosh focuses on his life in Eberron, and the fact that dragons have disappeared from his world and their guidance is greatly missed. He fears Abenthy would see everything destroyed, them included. Carrick compares the dragons to Primus, in their greatness and glory, and says that in a way people are their creations and begs them to make the decision to protect life. Imoaza’s plea is full of regret for the path her people, the Yuan Ti, choose to follow, and says that the dragons are right to judge people not worth saving in the past. But she promises that if they are saved, she will make the effort worth it in the future.

These pleas move the dragons, and they agree to give aid, on one condition: that when the war is over, the Yuan Ti turn to worship of them, and follow a better path.

Imoaza agrees to do this, if she can wrest her people free of their current leader, her son, Xaxus.

An Icy Reception

The PCs decide they need the assistance of the Ice Barbarians in order to fight successfully in the frozen plains of Friezurazov. Also, they will not abandon them to slavery, which which be their fate if the PCs do not intervene.

Argent flies you across the Moon Sea, until you come across a line of Prison Ships. The moon shines down upon them, and upon the head ship, named The Re-Enlightenment, and captained by Gregor Tolman, whose great grandfather once captained The Enlightenment, lost at sea ages ago when it fell befoul of a plot involving the Red Hand. Among its final passengers were Shando, Daymos, and Karina...

The roll to set this quest up goes really well, so I actually cut out an encounter I had planned with the Tarasque, summoned into the ocean by Abenthy to destroy the Barbarians before the players can recruit them. Instead, the PCs reach the ships before Abenthy realizes they are going after the Barbarians, and so this encounter comes down to another roleplay moment, with the PCs having to convince Gregor Tolman to give over the Barbarians to their care.

To do this, I really enjoy the plan the players come up with. Imoaza poses as a haughty noble who says she represents Nakir, their noble ally from Waterdepp, and says he wishes to buy the slaves... all of them! With the help of some magic and good persuasion rolls, they convince the captain to turn the ships around and drop the Barbarians off at the old sea elf post, then go back to their sailing. Gregor is a little suspicious, but they play upon his fears of nobility and convince him not to get wrapped up in their political games. Believing he is in over his head, he follows orders and leaves.

The Ice Barbarians are secreted away in the forests around Waterdeep. Orcaheart, in particular, is overjoyed to have the chance to fight again alongside Milosh and promises that their final drive against Abenthy will “shake the very heavens.”

Death Pact

One character that the players are very concerned about is Verrick, the four-eyed Tiefling and former lover of Karina. He is a long long term NPC, and so the players have a personal connection to him. Also, he has become a Death Knight, under the control of Nazragul. While that control seemed to be broken at the Maakengorge, the news that he may be returning to Abenthy’s side is a concerning notion, as he is quite a deadly foe.

You catch up to Verrick at the ruins of Baldur’s Gate, where you find him sitting on a fallen statue, head in his hands. He looks up wildly as you approach and gets to his feet, waving a hand at you as if to push you away.

“Stay back,” he warns. “I do not know how much longer I have control of myself and I would not want to hurt friends of Karina’s.”

It is easy to convince Verrick to fight against Abenthy, but the problem is that Verrick is magically bound to Nazragul’s soul, and has a deep connection to Karina and Abenthy as well. With the three combined in one body, he is finding himself drawn back to fight for him.

Verrick says that, as a Death Knight, he is doomed to be bound to another’s soul until such time as all bounds are broken. Even death cannot stop him while his binder lives, he says. But if they can defeat him now, he will not reform for some time, and will not be able to fight against them in Friezurazov. He prepares to duel them...

... but the PCs have other ideas! I really like how the PCs solve this one. Milosh decides to try and unbind Verrick’s soul from Nazragul and bind it, instead, to himself, thus meeting the requirements of the Death Knight’s contract, while actually winning him over to their side for the final battle!

It requires Imoaza’s mastery of the weave to pull off, and carries a significant risk of killing Milosh, but in the end the players manage to roll through it, and Verrick’s soul, while not freed, is at least bound to the force he wishes to fight alongside.

The Wayward Daughter

This is a tricky one. Imoaza receives word that Hecate is being held at Spiral Tower, an underground fortress where the Yuan Ti torture and brainwash those who have “left the fold.” Hecate’s treachery has been discovered, and she is about to go through a re-education program to make her, once and for all, a thrall of her brother, Xaxus.

Imoaza’s thoughts turned to the daughter whom she had abandoned so many years ago, and who had spent so long trying to kill her. Their reconciliation on the Abyssal plane had changed both of them and Imoaza felt that if she did not save her daughter from the clutches of the Yuan Ti now, they would be forced to face each other one final time on the battlefield, and this time one would not walk away.

This mission goes wrong from the start. A bad set up roll means I actually add in an extra challenge. Argent is flying them to Spiral Tower when he is spotted by the magical sensors of the Yuan Ti. A magical storm immediately forms to swallow the dragon and Argent has to abandon the mission. The PCs use the fly spell to drop from his back, fly through the storm, and land in the forest that grows above Spiral Tower.

They waste no time in quickly preparing their plan. This is a bit of a heist mission, involving teleportation magic. Carrick and Imoaza are going to be teleported by Milosh to a precise location in the tower, where Hecate is being held, and then try to get her out. Anyone who knows teleportation rules knows there is a huge risk here: Milosh has never seen the inside of the tower, and is forced to operate off of what Imoaza can describe to him. This leads to some tense rolls, which could result in an instant death scenario for the PCs if they fail. They do not fail, however, and Carrick and Imoaza reach Hecate’s chamber via portal.

Their time is short. Carrick begins dispelling the magic that is rewriting Hecate’s personality and thankfully the process is not far enough along to have changed her, yet. Hecate comes up with a daring plan. Rather than leave with Imoaza, she suggests that she stay behind and pretend to have been indoctrinated. Then, when the moment is right, in the final battle she will turn and strike Xaxus down.

Imoaza agrees, and tells Hecate, too, of her plan to join the Yuan Ti to the worship of the dragons. She says to start spreading the word of the dragons through the Yuan Ti as subtly as Hecate can, so that the Yuan Ti begin to believe the Dragons are their true saviors. Her hope is that when the dragons arrive on the battlefield, it throws the Yuan Ti forces into disarray and opens up a path to Xaxus.

Imoaza half expects Hecate to question this new direction for the Yuan Ti, but Hecate says that Imoaza will always be her leader and will be trusted in all things. Then she tells them to go, before Milosh is discovered. As they leave through the portal, Imoaza finds herself concerned for the first time in her life with the safety of a family member, and finds the emotion both beautiful and strange.

The Wizards of Thay

The final side quest involves finding Daymos and helping him recover Jade’s soul. The roll on this one is not great, and so the PCs find no trace of the psychic-turned Quasit. However, they do learn that Jade, as a Lich, had a phylactery, and that she was aided in making it by the Red Wizards of Thay. Nazragul forced her into this path so that he could more easily take over her body and make use of it, and the Red Wizards were only too happy to help in exchange for some of his knowledge and power.

When Nazragul was exorcised from Jade’s body, she died, but her soul went to her phylactery, while Nazragul merged with Abenthy and Karina. That phylactery is now with the Red Wizards.

Thay is an isolated and arid windswept plateau some twenty-five hundred miles east of Waterdeep, its dark skies constantly clouded by volcanic ash. This land is defined by the prevalence of undead within its borders. The supreme leader of Thay is the lich Szass Tam, whose council of advisers-the zulkirs-are powerful liches themselves. Everyone of consequence in Thay is a spellcaster, and necromancers are common there. Undead servants are everywhere, and many of the commanders in Thay's armies are the free-thinking undead soldiers.

This is another scenario lifted more or less from Tyranny of Dragons, though it is a little simpler than presented there. Rather than have to win over the Red Wizards, the PCs simply have to offer them something that is worth the return of Jade’s soul. The PCs also learn that the Red Wizards are holding Daymos captive, for he came to them and tried to force them to release Jade. The PCs end up negotiating for both of their souls. The price ends up being twofold. One, they must stay the night in Thay. This seems like an odd request, but the PCs agree to it tentatively. Two, they must give them an item of great power.

At first, the party thinks that what they should give over are spells of Haggemoth. However, while a tempting appetizer, the Thay wizards say that it is not enough. So the PCs keep the spells and look for something else. That is when Milosh suggests, though not without sadness, that they give up Lhu-Ee, the painting gnome that Haggemoth created, and who has traveled with them since the tomb.

It is an acceptable trade: the Thay wizards are fascinated by the notion of what is essentially a living, thinking phylactery. It is a surprisingly sad moment for the -players. Though Lhu-Ee has barely had a roll in the campaign, I played him with a lot of personality, and the players felt good about saving him from Haggemoth’s lair and from the Mummer. He made a bigger impression than I thought he would and so the moment becomes a solemn one as they hand him over to the wizards. The wizards say they will begin work on the brother and sister immediately, and Lhu-Ee bids the PCs farewell, saying that no matter what happens next, he will always love them for having given him freedom, even if it couldn’t last.

Only that night does the first gift the wizards ask for really show its purpose. As the PCs fall into a deep sleep, the wizards try to infiltrate their minds and draw forth the secrets they harbor. They are powerful secrets: Imoaza is a master of the weave. Carrick has all the knowledge of the Surveyor. Milosh is from another world. They come close to cracking Milosh, who has more self doubt than the others and is really struggling with what his purpose in life should be, but ultimately all the PCs fight them off through willpower and good roleplaying, and none of them remember the night’s events afterwards. The wizards may be sneaky, but they are not necessarily dishonorable. They recognize that they had their chance to garner secrets from the PCs and it is their own faults they failed. So they consider the deal done and turn over Daymos and Jade, their bodies restored.

The brother and sister, who have been in this campaign since it’s very first session, shed tears and greet the PCs like family, saying that they will lend their phenomenal powers to winning this war. Daymos also has one more surprise: to rebuild his body, the wizards had to put someone else in the Quasit. They choose Reeves Sar Testain, whose soul had been carried with Daymos from the Abyss, ever since Esheballa’s game. So now Daymos and Jade also travel with the reborn Testain, in Quasit form.

The Siege of Waterdeep

The side quests are ended, but there is one final event before the last battle. The PCs are called back to Waterdeep by Nakir, who says that it is time to reveal the Blackstaff. They all travel with Breathgiver and the real Blackstaff to the middle of the city, where Nakir has asked several of the Lords and many citizens to gather, on the pretense of a grand announcement. However, before they can make their announcement, diaster strikes. Vindass Lanteral crashes the gathering with the army of Waterdeep and says he has come to arrest Nakir and the PCs as traitors. The PCs prepare to face him down, when alarms break out all over the city. A great beast is emerging from the harbor. It is the Tarrasque, and it comes to bring Abenthy’s wrath to the city.

This is a big battle scene, with a lot going on. Breathgiver tells everyone that she can defend the city with the Blackstaff, but they must protect her. So Imoaza, Carrick, and Milosh stand guard while familiar ethereal tentacles erupt all over the city, sucking the life from its citizens. Breathgiver enters a trance and everyone hears a loud crash coming from all over the city.

Waterdeep, one of the wonders of the civilized world, contains wonders of its own. Undermountain, the Tower of Light... many argue for fun over what the wonders truly are. But the oldest citizens of Waterdeep say there are eight wonders, and all of them are statues. The Walking Statues are behemoth statues, said to have appeared out of the ethereal plane as guardians for Waterdeep, controllable only by he or she who wields the blackstaff.

Since I first read about Waterdeep as a child, I’ve wanted to do something with the Walking Statues. Now I get my chance. Breathgiver awakens the statues and I give the players control of three of them, as the Tarasque emerges like Godzilla from the docks and begins wreaking havoc on the city. Three statues converge on it and the players get to have what is essentially a giant Mech fight. The Hawkman, the Swordmaiden, and the Godcatcher all come forward to face the Tarasque and protect Waterdeep. This becomes a tremendous fight, with the Tarasque laying into the statues and bringing down the Hawkman and the Swordmaiden before the Godcatcher grabs it by the tail and, much like Mario swinging Bowser in Mario 64, spins the Tarasque through several buildings and out to sea, where it crashes into a nearby island and falls, unconscious into the ocean.

While all this has been going on, Milosh has been pulled into the Ehtereal world by the tentacles. Imoaza tries to grab him out, but she fails and is left with severely burned arms, that will remain black for the rest of her life. Desperately, Milosh calls upon his powers to teleport him back to the city... only, he doesn’t quite make it.

A Pocket Dimension

Milosh finds himself in, of all places, a brothel. It is being run by a strange man wearing all red, who is shocked, but not unhappy to have a customer. A few questions later, the group realizes this is Immerstal the Red, old party buddy of Aldric, who the group last saw on board the Surveyor’s ship, before he was sucked back into his pocket brothel.

Honestly, this scene is totally unplanned. I didn’t think Milosh would end up in the Ethereal but once he was there, someone (I can’t recall who had the idea, myself or one of the players) mentions our old NPC, Immerstal the Red, and it just was too perfect to not bring him back into the game.

Immerstal reveals he knew Aldric, and is shocked and saddened to hear of his passing. But he doesn’t seem that interested in returning to Faerun. Things are simpler in his pocket brothel, after all, and he is not sure it is wise to bring himself back to a world which, by all accounts, is about to be eradicated.

"Anyway,” he says, “they should just throw Immerstal’s old Fireball spells at the brute. That will show him.”

“The what now?” Milosh asks.

Immerstal blinks in surprise. “You haven’t heard of Immerstal’s mighty Fireblast?”

It turns out there’s a lot of Immerstal stuff that people haven’t heard of, or have forgotten. Sensing a weakness, Milosh plays this up, saying it’s too bad Immerstal won’t be coming back to remind the world who he was. Too bad history will forget him. This finally pushes Immerstal over the edge and he begins packing a bag, and pulls Milosh with him through a portal back to Waterdeep.

Wrapping up Waterdeep

A few final things wrap up our time in Waterdeep and prepare us for the final two sessions of our RPG. In the days that follow, It is revealed that Vindass Lanteral has fled the city, his fake Blackstaff broken. He is out of our game, and never does make a reappearance, at least not in our tales.

With the former blackstaff fled, Waterdeep is in political confusion, but they rally around Breathgiver, the new and true Blackstaff. She immediately declares an end to the shadow lords of Waterdeep and says that from now on, Waterdeep will no longer have lords, but instead shall be led by a council of people from every walk of life, and the Blackstaff shall preside over the council with the wisdom of all its ancient holders. Even as she proclaims this, word comes from the city gates that the other members of the Alliance, including the refugees from Baldur’s Gate, have heard of the Tarasque’s defeat and have arrived to offer their strength in the fight to come.

There is not much time to celebrate or rebuild. The PCs need to get to Friezurazov and face Abenthy before he can revive the Tarasque. However, in the Tarasque’s attack, Waterdeep’s massive fleet was all but destroyed, and the PCs have only Argent to carry them to battle. The armies of Waterdeep cannot follow. It is a devastating blow, for alone they cannot hope to survive and bypass Abenthy’s army.

But then hope arrives from an entirely unlooked for place. A fleet of elven ships is spotted on the horizon. When they land, it is revealed to be the fleet of the Wood Elves of the Sword Coast, led by an old elf named Feluver. He is the brother of Trakki, our PC from many campaigns ago, who was lost during the Red Hand saga. Feluver says that for the first time in many years he had a prophetic dream, and in it Trakki told him to sail his ships to Waterdeep and prepare to fight that evil which had corrupted Trakki’s soul before he passed.

This, then, is the answer to how the armies will make it to Friezurazov, how they will bring the strength to stand against Abenthy, his undead and Yuan Ti, and whatever other defenses he has. This, then, is the true beginning of the end.

Next time, our penultimate session, A Clashing of Fates.

#Immerstal the Red #DND 5e #Campaign Journal #Alignment May Vary #Karina #Waterdeep #Statues of Waterdeep #Blackstaff #Tyranny of Dragons #Dungeons & Dragons #Yuan Ti

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readbookywooks · 8 years ago

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The First Task

Harry got up on Sunday morning and dressed so inattentively that it was a while before he realized he was trying to pull his hat onto his foot instead of his sock. When he'd finally got all his clothes on the right parts of his body, he hurried off to find Hermione, locating her at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, where she was eating breakfast with Ginny. Feeling too queasy to eat, Harry waited until Hermione had swallowed her last spoonful of porridge, then dragged her out onto the grounds. There, he told her all about the dragons, and about everything Sirius had said, while they took another long walk around the lake. Alarmed as she was by Sirius's warnings about Karkaroff, Hermione still thought that the dragons were the more pressing problem. "Let's just try and keep you alive until Tuesday evening," she said desperately, "and then we can worry about Karkaroff." They walked three times around the lake, trying all the way to think of a simple spell that would subdue a dragon. Nothing whatsoever occurred to them, so they retired to the library instead. Here, Harry pulled down every book he could find on dragons, and both of them set to work searching through the large pile. "Talon-clipping by charms...treating scale-rot...' This is no good, this is for nutters like Hagrid who want to keep them healthy..." "Dragons are extremely difficult to slay, owing to the ancient magic that imbues their thick hides, which none but the most powerful spells can penetrate...' But Sirius said a simple one would do it..." "Let's try some simple spellbooks, then," said Harry, throwing aside Men Who Love Dragons Too Much. He returned to the table with a pile of spellbooks, set them down, and began to flick through each in turn, Hermione whispering nonstop at his elbow. "Well, there are Switching Spells...but what's the point of Switching it? Unless you swapped its fangs for wine-gums or something that would make it less dangerous....The trouble is, like that book said, not much is going to get through a dragon's hide....I'd say Transfigure it, but something that big, you really haven't got a hope, I doubt even Professor McGonagall...unless you're supposed to put the spell on yourself? Maybe to give yourself extra powers? But they're not simple spells, I mean, we haven't done any of those in class, I only know about them because I've been doing O.W.L. practice papers...." "Hermione," Harry said, through gritted teeth, "will you shut up for a bit, please? I m trying to concentrate." But all that happened, when Hermione fell silent, was that Harry's brain filled with a sort of blank buzzing, which didn't seem to allow room for concentration. He stared hopelessly down the index of Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed. Instant scalping...but dragons had no hair...pepper breath...that would probably increase a dragon's firepower...horn tongue...just what he needed, to give it an extra weapon... "Oh no, he's back again, why can't he read on his stupid ship?" said Hermione irritably as Viktor Krum slouched in, cast a surly look over at the pair of them, and settled himself in a distant corner with a pile of books. "Come on, Harry, we'll go back to the common room...his fan club'll be here in a moment, twittering away...." And sure enough, as they left the library, a gang of girls tiptoed past them, one of them wearing a Bulgaria scarf tied around her waist. Harry barely slept that night. When he awoke on Monday morning, he seriously considered for the first time ever just running away from Hogwarts. But as he looked around the Great Hall at breakfast time, and thought about what leaving the castle would mean, he knew he couldn't do it. It was the only place he had ever been happy...well, he supposed he must have been happy with his parents too, but he couldn't remember that. Somehow, the knowledge that he would rather be here and facing a dragon than back on Privet Drive with Dudley was good to know; it made him feel slightly calmer. He finished his bacon with difficulty (his throat wasn't working too well), and as he and Hermione got up, he saw Cedric Diggory leaving the Hufflepuff table. Cedric still didn't know about the dragons...the only champion who didn't, if Harry was right in thinking that Maxime and Karkaroff would have told Fleur and Krum.... "Hermione, I'll see you in the greenhouses," Harry said, coming to his decision as he watched Cedric leaving the Hall. "Go on, I'll catch you up." "Harry, you'll be late, the bell's about to ring -" "I'll catch you up, okay?" By the time Harry reached the bottom of the marble staircase, Cedric was at the top. He was with a load of sixth-year friends. Harry didn't want to talk to Cedric in front of them; they were among those who had been quoting Rita Skeeter's article at him every time he went near them. He followed Cedric at a distance and saw that he was heading toward the Charms corridor. This gave Harry an idea. Pausing at a distance from them, he pulled out his wand, and took careful aim. "Diffindo!" Cedric's bag split. Parchment, quills, and books spilled out of it onto the floor. Several bottles of ink smashed. "Don't bother," said Cedric in an exasperated voice as his friends bent down to help him. "Tell Flitwick I'm coming, go on..." This was exactly what Harry had been hoping for. He slipped his wand back into his robes, waited until Cedric's friends had disappeared into their classroom, and hurried up the corridor, which was now empty of everyone but himself and Cedric. "Hi," said Cedric, picking up a copy of A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration that was now splattered with ink. "My bag just split...brand-new and all..." "Cedric," said Harry, "the first task is dragons." "What?" said Cedric, looking up. "Dragons," said Harry, speaking quickly, in case Professor Flitwick came out to see where Cedric had got to. "They've got four, one for each of us, and we've got to get past them." Cedric stared at him. Harry saw some of the panic he'd been feeling since Saturday night flickering in Cedric's gray eyes. "Are you sure?" Cedric said in a hushed voice. "Dead sure," said Harry. "I've seen them." "But how did you find out? We're not supposed to know...." "Never mind," said Harry quickly - he knew Hagrid would be in trouble if he told the truth. "But I'm not the only one who knows. Fleur and Krum will know by now - Maxime and Karkaroff both saw the dragons too." Cedric straightened up, his arms full of inky quills, parchment, and books, his ripped bag dangling off one shoulder. He stared at Harry, and there was a puzzled, almost suspicious look in his eyes. "Why are you telling me?" he asked. Harry looked at him in disbelief. He was sure Cedric wouldn't have asked that if he had seen the dragons himself. Harry wouldn't have let his worst enemy face those monsters unprepared - well, perhaps Malfoy or Snape.... "It's just...fair, isn't it?" he said to Cedric. "We all know now...we're on an even footing, aren't we?" Cedric was still hooking at him in a slightly suspicious way when Harry heard a familiar clunking noise behind him. He turned around and saw Mad-Eye Moody emerging from a nearby classroom. "Come with me, Potter," he growled. "Diggory, off you go." Harry stared apprehensively at Moody. Had he overheard them? "Er - Professor, I'm supposed to be in Herbology -" "Never mind that, Potter. In my office, please..." Harry followed him, wondering what was going to happen to him now. What if Moody wanted to know how he'd found out about the dragons? Would Moody go to Dumbledore and tell on Hagrid, or just turn Harry into a ferret? Well, it might be easier to get past a dragon if he were a ferret, Harry thought dully, he'd be smaller, much less easy to see from a height of fifty feet.... He followed Moody into his office. Moody closed the door behind them and turned to look at Harry, his magical eye fixed upon him as well as the normal one. "That was a very decent thing you just did, Potter," Moody said quietly. Harry didn't know what to say; this wasn't the reaction he had expected at all. "Sit down," said Moody, and Harry sat, looking around. He had visited this office under two of its previous occupants. In Professor Lockhart's day, the walls had been plastered with beaming, winking pictures of Professor Lockhart himself. When Lupin had lived here, you were more likely to come across a specimen of some fascinating new Dark creature he had procured for them to study in class. Now, however, the office was full of a number of exceptionally odd objects that Harry supposed Moody had used in the days when he had been an Auror. On his desk stood what looked hike a large, cracked, glass spinning top; Harry recognized it at once as a Sneakoscope, because he owned one himself, though it was much smaller than Moody's. In the corner on a small table stood an object that looked something like an extra-squiggly, golden television aerial. It was humming slightly. What appeared to be a mirror hung opposite Harry on the wall, but it was not reflecting the room. Shadowy figures were moving around inside it, none of them clearly in focus. "Like my Dark Detectors, do you?" said Moody, who was watching Harry closely. "What's that?" Harry asked, pointing at the squiggly golden aerial. "Secrecy Sensor. Vibrates when it detects concealment and lies...no use here, of course, too much interference - students in every direction lying about why they haven't done their homework. Been humming ever since I got here. I had to disable my Sneakoscope because it wouldn't stop whistling. It's extra-sensitive, picks up stuff about a mile around. Of course, it could be picking up more than kid stuff," he added in a growl. "And what's the mirror for?" "Oh that's my Foe-Glass. See them out there, skulking around? I'm not really in trouble until I see the whites of their eyes. That's when I open my trunk." He let out a short, harsh laugh, and pointed to the large trunk under the window. It had seven keyholes in a row. Harry wondered what was in there, until Moody's next question brought him sharply back to earth. "So...found out about the dragons, have you?" Harry hesitated. He'd been afraid of this - but he hadn't told Cedric, and he certainly wasn't going to tell Moody, that Hagrid had broken the rules. "It's all right," said Moody, sitting down and stretching out his wooden leg with a groan. "Cheating's a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and always has been." "I didn't cheat," said Harry sharply. "It was - a sort of accident that I found out." Moody grinned. "I wasn't accusing you, laddie. I've been telling Dumbledore from the start, he can be as high-minded as he likes, but you can bet old Karkaroff and Maxime won't be. They'll have told their champions everything they can. They want to win. They want to beat Dumbledore. They'd like to prove he's only human." Moody gave another harsh laugh, and his magical eye swiveled around so fast it made Harry feel queasy to watch it. "So...got any ideas how you're going to get past your dragon yet?" said Moody. "No," said Harry. "Well, I'm not going to tell you," said Moody gruffly. "I don't show favoritism, me. I'm just going to give you some good, general advice. And the first bit is - play to your strengths." "I haven't got any," said Harry, before he could stop himself. "Excuse me," growled Moody, "you've got strengths if I say you've got them. Think now. What are you best at?" Harry tried to concentrate. What was he best at? Well, that was easy, really - "Quidditch," he said dully, "and a fat lot of help -" "That's right," said Moody, staring at him very hard, his magical eye barely moving at all. "You're a damn good flier from what I've heard." "Yeah, but..." Harry stared at him. "I'm not allowed a broom, I've only got my wand..." "My second piece of general advice," said Moody loudly, interrupting him, "is to use a nice, simple spell that will enable you to get what you need." Harry looked at him blankly. What did he need? "Come on, boy..." whispered Moody. "Put them together...it's not that difficult..." And it clicked. He was best at flying. He needed to pass the dragon in the air. For that, he needed his Firebolt. And for his Fire-bolt, he needed - "Hermione," Harry whispered, when he had sped into greenhouse three minutes later, uttering a hurried apology to Professor Sprout as he passed her. "Hermione - I need you to help me." "What d'you think I've been trying to do, Harry?" she whispered back, her eyes round with anxiety over the top of the quivering Flutterby Bush she was pruning. "Hermione, I need to learn how to do a Summoning Charm properly by tomorrow afternoon." And so they practiced. They didn't have lunch, but headed for a free classroom, where Harry tried with all his might to make various objects fly across the room toward him. He was still having problems. The books and quills kept losing heart halfway across the room and dropping hike stones to the floor. "Concentrate, Harry, concentrate...." "What d'you think I'm trying to do?" said Harry angrily. "A great big dragon keeps popping up in my head for some reason...Okay, try again..." He wanted to skip Divination to keep practicing, but Hermione refused point-blank to skive off Arithmancy, and there was no point in staying without her. He therefore had to endure over an hour of Professor Trelawney, who spent half the lesson telling everyone that the position of Mars with relation to Saturn at that moment meant that people born in July were in great danger of sudden, violent deaths. "Well, that's good," said Harry loudly, his temper getting the better of him, "just as long as it's not drawn-out. I don't want to suffer." Ron looked for a moment as though he was going to laugh; he certainly caught Harry's eye for the first time in days, but Harry was still feeling too resentful toward Ron to care. He spent the rest of the lesson trying to attract small objects toward him under the table with his wand. He managed to make a fly zoom straight into his hand, though he wasn't entirely sure that was his prowess at Summoning Charms - perhaps the fly was just stupid. He forced down some dinner after Divination, then returned to the empty classroom with Hermione, using the Invisibility Cloak to avoid the teachers. They kept practicing until past midnight. They would have stayed longer, but Peeves turned up and, pretending to think that Harry wanted things thrown at him, started chucking chairs across the room. Harry and Hermione left in a hurry before the noise attracted Filch, and went back to the Gryffindor common room, which was now mercifully empty. At two o'clock in the morning, Harry stood near the fireplace, surrounded by heaps of objects: books, quills, several upturned chairs, an old set of Gobstones, and Neville's toad, Trevor. Only in the last hour had Harry really got the hang of the Summoning Charm. "That's better, Harry, that's loads better," Hermione said, looking exhausted but very pleased. "Well, now we know what to do next time I can't manage a spell," Harry said, throwing a rune dictionary back to Hermione, so he could try again, "threaten me with a dragon. Right..." He raised his wand once more. "Accio Dictionary!" The heavy book soared out of Hermione's hand, flew across the room, and Harry caught it. "Harry, I really think you've got it!" said Hermione delightedly. "Just as long as it works tomorrow," Harry said. "The Firebolt's going to be much farther away than the stuff in here, it's going to be in the castle, and I'm going to be out there on the grounds..." "That doesn't matter," said Hermione firmly." Just as long as you're concentrating really, really hard on it, it'll come. Harry, we'd better get some sleep...you're going to need it." Harry had been focusing so hard on learning the Summoning Charm that evening that some of his blind panic had heft him. It returned in full measure, however, on the following morning. The atmosphere in the school was one of great tension and excitement. Lessons were to stop at midday, giving all the students time to get down to the dragons' enclosure - though of course, they didn't yet know what they would find there. Harry felt oddly separate from everyone around him, whether they were wishing him good luck or hissing "We'll have a box of tissues ready, Potter" as he passed. It was a state of nervousness so advanced that he wondered whether he mightn't just lose his head when they tried to lead him out to his dragon, and start trying to curse everyone in sight. Time was behaving in a more peculiar fashion than ever, rushing past in great dollops, so that one moment he seemed to be sitting down in his first lesson, History of Magic, and the next, walking into lunch...and then (where had the morning gone? the last of the dragon-free hours?), Professor McGonagall was hurrying over to him in the Great Hall. Lots of people were watching. "Potter, the champions have to come down onto the grounds now....You have to get ready for your first task." "Okay," said Harry, standing up, his fork falling onto his plate with a clatter. "Good luck, Harry," Hermione whispered. "You'll be fine!" "Yeah," said Harry in a voice that was most unlike his own. He heft the Great Hall with Professor McGonagall. She didn't seem herself either; in fact, she looked nearly as anxious as Hermione. As she walked him down the stone steps and out into the cold November afternoon, she put her hand on his shoulder. "Now, don't panic," she said, "just keep a cool head....We've got wizards standing by to control the situation if it gets out of hand....The main thing is just to do your best, and nobody will think any the worse of you....Are you all right?" "Yes," Harry heard himself say. "Yes, I'm fine." She was leading him toward the place where the dragons were, around the edge of the forest, but when they approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be clearly visible, Harry saw that a tent had been erected, its entrance facing them, screening the dragons from view. "You're to go in here with the other champions," said Professor McGonagall, in a rather shaky sort of voice, "and wait for your turn, Potter. Mr. Bagman is in there...he'll be telling you the - the procedure.... Good luck." "Thanks," said Harry, in a flat, distant voice. She left him at the entrance of the tent. Harry went inside. Fleur Delacour was sitting in a corner on a how wooden stool. She didn't look nearly as composed as usual, but rather pale and clammy. Viktor Krum looked even surlier than usual, which Harry supposed was his way of showing nerves. Cedric was pacing up and down. When Harry entered, Cedric gave him a small smile, which Harry returned, feeling the muscles in his face working rather hard, as though they had forgotten how to do it. "Harry! Good-o!" said Bagman happily, looking around at him. "Come in, come in, make yourself at home!" Bagman looked somehow like a slightly overblown cartoon figure, standing amid all the pale-faced champions. He was wearing his old Wasp robes again. "Well, now we're all here - time to fill you in!" said Bagman brightly. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag" - he held up a small sack of purple silk and shook it at them - "from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different - er - varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too...ah, yes...your task is to collect the golden egg!" Harry glanced around. Cedric had nodded once, to show that he understood Bagman's words, and then started pacing around the tent again; he looked slightly green. Fleur Delacour and Krum hadn't reacted at all. Perhaps they thought they might be sick if they opened their mouths; that was certainly how Harry felt. But they, at least, had volunteered for this... And in no time at all, hundreds upon hundreds of pairs of feet could be heard passing the tent, their owners talking excitedly, laughing, joking....Harry felt as separate from the crowd as though they were a different species. And then - it seemed like about a second later to Harry - Bagman was opening the neck of the purple silk sack. "Ladies first," he said, offering it to Fleur Delacour. She put a shaking hand inside the bag and drew out a tiny, perfect model of a dragon - a Welsh Green. It had the number two around its neck And Harry knew, by the fact that Fleur showed no sign of surprise, but rather a determined resignation, that he had been right: Madame Maxime had told her what was coming. The same held true for Krum. He pulled out the scarlet Chinese Fireball. It had a number three around its neck. He didn't even blink, just sat back down and stared at the ground. Cedric put his hand into the bag, and out came the blueish-gray Swedish Short-Snout, the number one tied around its neck. Knowing what was left, Harry put his hand into the silk bag and pulled out the Hungarian Horntail, and the number four. It stretched its wings as he looked down at it, and bared its minuscule fangs. "Well, there you are!" said Bagman. "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating. Mr. Diggory, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now...Harry...could I have a quick word? Outside?" "Er...yes," said Harry blankly, and he got up and went out of the tent with Bagman, who walked him a short distance away, into the trees, and then turned to him with a fatherly expression on his face. "Feeling all right, Harry? Anything I can get you?" "What?" said Harry. "I - no, nothing." "Got a plan?" said Bagman, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "Because I don't mind sharing a few pointers, if you'd like them, you know. I mean," Bagman continued, lowering his voice still further, "you're the underdog here, Harry....Anything I can do to help..." "No," said Harry so quickly he knew he had sounded rude, "no - I - I know what I'm going to do, thanks." "Nobody would know, Harry," said Bagman, winking at him. "No, I'm fine," said Harry, wondering why he kept telling people this, and wondering whether he had ever been less fine. "I've got a plan worked out, I -" A whistle had blown somewhere. "Good lord, I've got to run!" said Bagman in alarm, and he hurried off. Harry walked back to the tent and saw Cedric emerging from it, greener than ever. Harry tried to wish him luck as he walked past, but all that came out of his mouth was a sort of hoarse grunt. Harry went back inside to Fleur and Krum. Seconds hater, they heard the roar of the crowd, which meant Cedric had entered the enclosure and was now face-to-face with the living counterpart of his model.... It was worse than Harry could ever have imagined, sitting there and listening. The crowd screamed...yelled...gasped like a single many-headed entity, as Cedric did whatever he was doing to get past the Swedish Short-Snout. Krum was still staring at the ground. Fleur had now taken to retracing Cedric's steps, around and around the tent. And Bagman's commentary made everything much, much worse....Horrible pictures formed in Harry's mind as he heard: "Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow"... "He's taking risks, this one!"..."Clever move - pity it didn't work!" And then, after about fifteen minutes, Harry heard the deafening roar that could mean only one thing: Cedric had gotten past his dragon and captured the golden egg. "Very good indeed!" Bagman was shouting. "And now the marks from the judges!" But he didn't shout out the marks; Harry supposed the judges were holding them up and showing them to the crowd. "One down, three to go!" Bagman yelled as the whistle blew again. "Miss Delacour, if you please!" Fleur was trembling from head to foot; Harry felt more warmly toward her than he had done so far as she heft the tent with her head held high and her hand clutching her wand. He and Krum were left alone, at opposite sides of the tent, avoiding each other's gaze. The same process started again...."Oh I'm not sure that was wise!" they could hear Bagman shouting gleefully. "Oh...nearly! Careful now...good lord, I thought she'd had it then!" Ten minutes later, Harry heard the crowd erupt into applause once more....Fleur must have been successful too. A pause, while Fleur's marks were being shown...more clapping...then, for the third time, the whistle. "And here comes Mr. Krum!" cried Bagman, and Krum slouched out, leaving Harry quite alone. He felt much more aware of his body than usual; very aware of the way his heart was pumping fast, and his fingers tingling with fear...yet at the same time, he seemed to be outside himself, seeing the walls of the tent, and hearing the crowd, as though from far away. "Very daring!" Bagman was yelling, and Harry heard the Chinese Fireball emit a horrible, roaring shriek, while the crowd drew its collective breath. "That's some nerve he's showing - and - yes, he's got the egg!" Applause shattered the wintery air like breaking glass; Krum had finished - it would be Harry's turn any moment. He stood up, noticing dimly that his legs seemed to be made of marshmallow. He waited. And then he heard the whistle blow. He walked out through the entrance of the tent, the panic rising into a crescendo inside him. And now he was walking past the trees, through a gap in the enclosure fence. He saw everything in front of him as though it was a very highly colored dream. There were hundreds and hundreds of faces staring down at him from stands that had been magicked there since he'd last stood on this spot. And there was the Horntail, at the other end of the enclosure, crouched low over her clutch of eggs, her wings half-furled, her evil, yellow eyes upon him, a monstrous, scaly, black lizard, thrashing her spiked tail, heaving yard-long gouge marks in the hard ground. The crowd was making a great deal of noise, but whether friendly or not, Harry didn't know or care. It was time to do what he had to do...to focus his mind, entirely and absolutely, upon the thing that was his only chance. He raised his wand. "Accio Firebolt!" he shouted. Harry waited, every fiber of him hoping, praying....If it hadn't worked...if it wasn't coming...He seemed to be looking at everything around him through some sort of shimmering, transparent barrier, like a heat haze, which made the enclosure and the hundreds of faces around him swim strangely.... And then he heard it, speeding through the air behind him; he turned and saw his Firebolt hurtling toward him around the edge of the woods, soaring into the enclosure, and stopping dead in midair beside him, waiting for him to mount. The crowd was making even more noise....Bagman was shouting something...but Harry's ears were not working properly anymore...listening wasn't important.... He swung his leg over the broom and kicked off from the ground. And a second later, something miraculous happened.... As he soared upward, as the wind rushed through his hair, as the crowd's faces became mere flesh-colored pinpnicks below, and the Horntail shrank to the size of a dog, he realized that he had left not only the ground behind, but also his fear....He was back where he belonged.... This was just another Quidditch match, that was all...just another Quidditch match, and that Horntail was just another ugly opposing team.... He looked down at the clutch of eggs and spotted the gold one, gleaming against its cement-colored fellows, residing safely between the dragon's front legs. "Okay," Harry told himself, "diversionary tactics...let's go..." He dived. The Horntail's head followed him; he knew what it was going to do and pulled out of the dive just in time; a jet of fire had been released exactly where he would have been had he not swerved away...but Harry didn't care...that was no more than dodging a Bludger.... "Great Scott, he can fly!" yelled Bagman as the crowd shrieked and gasped. "Are you watching this, Mr. Krum?" Harry soared higher in a circle; the Horntail was still following his progress; its head revolving on its long neck - if he kept this up, it would be nicely dizzy - but better not push it too long, or it would be breathing fire again - Harry plummeted just as the Horntail opened its mouth, but this time he was less lucky - he missed the flames, but the tail came whipping up to meet him instead, and as he swerved to the left, one of the long spikes grazed his shoulder, ripping his robes - He could feel it stinging, he could hear screaming and groans from the crowd, but the cut didn't seem to be deep....Now he zoomed around the back of the Horntail, and a possibility occurred to him.... The Horntail didn't seem to want to take off, she was too protective of her eggs. Though she writhed and twisted, furling and unfurling her wings and keeping those fearsome yellow eyes on Harry, she was afraid to move too far from them...but he had to persuade her to do it, or he'd never get near them....The trick was to do it carefully, gradually.... He began to fly, first this way, then the other, not near enough to make her breathe fire to stave him off, but still posing a sufficient threat to ensure she kept her eyes on him. Her head swayed this way and that, watching him out of those vertical pupils, her fangs bared.... He flew higher. The Horntail's head rose with him, her neck now stretched to its fullest extent, still swaying, hike a snake before its charmer.... Harry rose a few more feet, and she let out a roar of exasperation. He was like a fly to her, a fly she was longing to swat; her tail thrashed again, but he was too high to reach now....She shot fire into the air, which he dodged....Her jaws opened wide.... "Come on," Harry hissed, swerving tantalizingly above her, "come on, come and get me...up you get now..." And then she reared, spreading her great, black, leathery wings at last, as wide as those of a small airplane - and Harry dived. Before the dragon knew what he had done, or where he had disappeared to, he was speeding toward the ground as fast as he could go, toward the eggs now unprotected by her clawed front legs - he had taken his hands off his Firebolt - he had seized the golden egg - And with a huge spurt of speed, he was off, he was soaring out over the stands, the heavy egg safely under his uninjured arm, and it was as though somebody had just turned the volume back up - for the first time, he became properly aware of the noise of the crowd, which was screaming and applauding as loudly as the Irish supporters at the World Cup - "Look at that!" Bagman was yelling. "Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is quickest to get his egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr. Potter!" Harry saw the dragon keepers rushing forward to subdue the Horntail, and, over at the entrance to the enclosure, Professor McGonagall, Professor Moody, and Hagrid hurrying to meet him, all of them waving him toward them, their smiles evident even from this distance. He flew back over the stands, the noise of the crowd pounding his eardrums, and came in smoothly to land, his heart lighter than it had been in weeks....He had got through the first task, he had survived.... "That was excellent, Potter!" cried Professor McGonagall as he got off the Firebolt - which from her was extravagant praise. He noticed that her hand shook as she pointed at his shoulder. "You'll need to see Madam Pomfrey before the judges give out your score....Over there, she's had to mop up Diggory already...." "Yeh did it, Harry!" said Hagrid hoarsely. "Yeh did it! An' agains' the Horntail an' all, an' yeh know Charlie said that was the wors' -" "Thanks, Hagrid," said Harry loudly, so that Hagrid wouldn't blunder on and reveal that he had shown Harry the dragons beforehand. Professor Moody looked very pleased too; his magical eye was dancing in its socket. "Nice and easy does the trick, Potter," he growled. "Right then, Potter, the first aid tent, please..." said Professor McGonagall. Harry walked out of the enclosure, still panting, and saw Madam Pomfrey standing at the mouth of a second tent, looking worried. "Dragons!" she said, in a disgusted tone, pulling Harry inside. The tent was divided into cubicles; he could make out Cedric's shadow through the canvas, but Cedric didn't seem to be badly injured; he was sitting up, at least. Madam Pomfrey examined Harry's shoulder, talking furiously all the while. "Last year dementors, this year dragons, what are they going to bring into this school next? You're very lucky...this is quite shallow...it'll need cleaning before I heal it up, though...." She cleaned the cut with a dab of some purple liquid that smoked and stung, but then poked his shoulder with her wand, and he felt it heal instantly. "Now, just sit quietly for a minute - sit! And then you can go and get your score." She bustled out of the tent and he heard her go next door and say, "How does it feel now, Diggory?" Harry didn't want to sit still. He was too full of adrenaline. He got to his feet, wanting to see what was going on outside, but before he'd reached the mouth of the tent, two people had come darting inside - Hermione, followed closely by Ron. "Harry, you were brilliant!" Hermione said squeakily. There were fingernail marks on her face where she had been clutching it in fear. "You were amazing! You really were!" But Harry was looking at Ron, who was very white and staring at Harry as though he were a ghost. "Harry," he said, very seriously, "whoever put your name in that goblet - I - I reckon they're trying to do you in!" It was as though the last few weeks had never happened - as though Harry were meeting Ron for the first time, right after he'd been made champion. "Caught on, have you?" said Harry coldly. "Took you long enough." Hermione stood nervously between them, looking from one to the other. Ron opened his mouth uncertainly. Harry knew Ron was about to apologize and suddenly he found he didn't need to hear it. "It's okay," he said, before Ron could get the words out. "Forget it." "No," said Ron, "I shouldn't've -" "Forget it, "Harry said. Ron grinned nervously at him, and Harry grinned back. Hermione burst into tears. "There's nothing to cry about!" Harry told her, bewildered. "You two are so stupid!" she shouted, stamping her foot on the ground, tears splashing down her front. Then, before either of them could stop her, she had given both of them a hug and dashed away, now positively howling. "Barking mad," said Ron, shaking his head. "Harry, c'mon, they'll be putting up your scores...." Picking up the golden egg and his Firebolt, feeling more elated than he would have believed possible an hour ago, Harry ducked out of the tent, Ron by his side, talking fast. "You were the best, you know, no competition. Cedric did this weird thing where he Transfigured a rock on the ground...turned it into a dog...he was trying to make the dragon go for the dog instead of him. Well, it was a pretty cool bit of Transfiguration, and it sort of worked, because he did get the egg, but he got burned as well - the dragon changed its mind halfway through and decided it would rather have him than the Labrador; he only just got away. And that Fleur girl tried this sort of charm, I think she was trying to put it into a trance - well, that kind of worked too, it went all sleepy, but then it snored, and this great jet of flame shot out, and her skirt caught fire - she put it out with a bit of water out of her wand. And Krum - you won't believe this, but he didn't even think of flying! He was probably the best after you, though. Hit it with some sort of spell right in the eye. Only thing is, it went trampling around in agony and squashed half the real eggs - they took marks off for that, he wasn't supposed to do any damage to them." Ron drew breath as he and Harry reached the edge of the enclosure. Now that the Horntail had been taken away, Harry could see where the five judges were sitting - right at the other end, in raised seats draped in gold. "It's marks out of ten from each one," Ron said, and Harry squinting up the field, saw the first judge - Madame Maxime - raise her wand in the air. What hooked like a long silver ribbon shot out of it, which twisted itself into a large figure eight. "Not bad!" said Ron as the crowd applauded. "I suppose she took marks off for your shoulder..." Mr. Crouch came next. He shot a number nine into the air. "Looking good!" Ron yelled, thumping Harry on the back. Next, Dumbledore. He too put up a nine. The crowd was cheering harder than ever. Ludo Bagman - ten. "Ten?" said Harry in disbelief. "But...I got hurt....What's he playing at?" "Harry, don't complain!" Ron yelled excitedly. And now Karkaroff raised his wand. He paused for a moment, and then a number shot out of his wand too - four. "What?" Ron bellowed furiously. "Four? You lousy, biased scum-bag, you gave Krum ten!" But Harry didn't care, he wouldn't have cared if Karkaroff had given him zero; Ron's indignation on his behalf was worth about a hundred points to him. He didn't tell Ron this, of course, but his heart felt lighter than air as he turned to leave the enclosure. And it wasn't just Ron...those weren't only Gryffindors cheering in the crowd. When it had come to it, when they had seen what he was facing, most of the school had been on his side as well as Cedric's....He didn't care about the Slytherins, he could stand whatever they threw at him now. "You're tied in first place, Harry! You and Krum!" said Charlie Weasley, hurrying to meet them as they set off back toward the school. "Listen, I've got to run, I've got to go and send Mum an owl, I swore I'd tell her what happened - but that was unbelievable! Oh yeah - and they told me to tell you you've got to hang around for a few more minutes....Bagman wants a word, back in the champions' tent." Ron said he would wait, so Harry reentered the tent, which somehow looked quite different now: friendly and welcoming. He thought back to how he'd felt while dodging the Horntail, and compared it to the long wait before he'd walked out to face it....There was no comparison; the wait had been immeasurably worse. Fleur, Cedric, and Krum all came in together. One side of Cedric's face was covered in a thick orange paste, which was presumably mending his burn. He grinned at Harry when he saw him. "Good one, Harry." "And you," said Harry, grinning back. "Well done, all of you!" said Ludo Bagman, bouncing into the tent and looking as pleased as though he personally had just got past a dragon. "Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth - but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open...see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg - because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!" Harry left the tent, rejoined Ron, and they started to walk back around the edge of the forest, talking hard; Harry wanted to hear what the other champions had done in more detail. Then, as they rounded the clump of trees behind which Harry had first heard the dragons roar, a witch leapt out from behind them. It was Rita Skeeter. She was wearing acid-green robes today; the Quick-Quotes Quill in her hand blended perfectly against them. "Congratulations, Harry!" she said, beaming at him. "I wonder if you could give me a quick word? How you felt facing that dragon? How you feel now, about the fairness of the scoring?" "Yeah, you can have a word," said Harry savagely. "Good-bye." And he set off back to the castle with Ron.

#GobletofFire #HarryPotter

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swipestream · 6 years ago

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New Release Roundup, 19 January 2019: Fantasy and Adventure

This week’s roundup of the newest releases in fantasy and adventure features a raygun past that should have been, a privateer out to rescue his fiancee, monstergirl madness, and the escape of a rogue superhero.

Accidental Assassin (Sellswords #2) – T. L. Branson

A light shines in the darkness.

The earnings from their last heist have dried up. Now, Ocken and Riley are once again in need of a job.

Ocken doesn’t dare work for the mysterious Viper again, but Riley wants to use the stranger to take down the crime lord, Edward Ziken. Except Viper is nowhere to be found.

But Viper isn’t the only one looking for hired hands. Soon, Ocken and Riley find themselves as pawns in yet another plot for power.

The job seems simple enough, but there’s more at stake than they could possibly know.

Bert Henderson Double Adventure – Spencer Hart

DEATH RAYS & DAMES are all in a day’s work for company troubleshooter Bert Henderson.

Bert’s boss runs Phillips’ Atomics, builder of atomic-powered planes, spaceships, and industrial tools. These high-tech inventions are revolutionizing the world of 1949. So when Mr. Phillips’ interests are threatened, Bert can find himself traveling anywhere on Earth – or beyond.

Criminals and foreign agents are in for more than they bargained for, when Henderson is on the case.

And if there’s a gorgeous dame involved along the way, that can bring its own sort of trouble…”

Contains Bert Henderson’s first and second adventures:

DEATH ON THE MOON: The first ever murder on the Moon brings Bert to Roosevelt Base to find the killer. Mr. Phillips is financing an observatory on the Moon, and construction is halted while the murderer is loose. Can Bert find the killer and prevent more death on the Moon?

FIRE IN THE ANDES: One of Mr. Phillips top engineers has gone missing in Argentina, and Bert is sent to find him. But the investigation leads to the discovery of a greater threat. Complications ensue from encountering a lovely senorita. Can Bert deal with both the case and the dame?

Breaker (Monster Tamer #1) – Isaac Hooke

Three women.

One man.

A whole lot of monsters.

Malem is a Breaker. He breaks the minds of beasts, exerting the steel vise of his will over their own, bending them to his wishes.

His ability is severely limited in terms of the types of creatures he can control, and how many. Most monsters have always been beyond him.

And then one day he accidentally breaks a monster girl. Doors begin to open for him faster than he thought possible…

Also available: Conqueror

Heroes Fall (Heroes Unleashed: Serenity City #1) – Morgon Newquist

He wanted to be a good man. Instead he became a hero.

Twenty years ago, Serenity City’s great Triumvirate of heroes – Achilles, the Banshee, and Pendragon – maintained a golden age of peace and prosperity. Then, in an instant, it all went wrong. The city’s mightiest champion, Achilles, lost his mind during a showdown with the enigmatic supervillain Thanatos and went on a rampage across the city, leaving the Banshee dead and a swath of destruction in his wake before Pendragon could stop him.

Today, as Achilles rots in solitary confinement, Victoria Westerdale investigates a new mystery. Why are young and forgotten heroes disappearing off the streets? Why doesn’t anybody else care? And how is it tied in to those infamous events that brought the city’s greatest heroes to ruin?

And what’s going to happen to them all after Achilles escapes?

Infinite Dendrogram #8 – Sakon Kaidou

In the year 2043, Infinite Dendrogram, the world’s first successful full-dive VRMMO was released. In addition to its ability to perfectly simulate the five senses, along with its many other amazing features, the game promised to offer players a world full of infinite possibilities

Having maxed out his Paladin rank, Ray considers what job to take and level next. As he does so, he hears of a job that was newly excavated alongside an ancient ruin in Altar’s Quartierlatin County — an area bordering the Dryfe Imperium.

As it happens, Ray already meets the conditions for the job, and it suits him well, so he wastes no time going out to make the switch. But of course things are never quite so simple…

Along the way, he encounters Azurite — a mysterious masked swordswoman. There was simply no way Ray could’ve known the far-reaching political implications of his venture to the ruins…

The Starry Sky Chessboard (Starchild Escapes Arranged Marriage #6) – Fat Bread

The vast sky contains thousands of God’s domains.

Yun Xi was born in the Sword Domain, more specifically, the White Lotus Sword Domain. He has a female childhood friend who tends to become jealous very easily, while running an ordinary bakery for a living. At the age of eighteen, he was to marry his arranged bride, with the wish of living his days normally and peacefully.

But on his sixteenth birthday, the shined down on him with three different choices for him to make. These three choices came in the form of three fairies which suddenly appeared in front of him. The boy then learned a terrible truth, that his life was at stake. A bad ending, which was supposed to happen to him, was coming soon.

In order to survive, the youth had to set foot on the battlefields of many deaths trails, all while learning how to love as well as struggling to become stronger.

The Steel Hounds (The Artar Chronicles #1) – Vladimir Vasilenko

Stan, also known as Mongoose, is an extreme traceur and a freerunner, whose real-life talents attracted the attention of The Steel Hounds, the most notorious and private clan of the virtual world of Artar, famous for serving the grey cardinal. While the political landscape for this new world is yet to form, intrigues, conspiracy, daring raids, and sabotage are the main weapons of the Hounds, and his evaluation has just begun.

To complete it successfully and become a full-fledged member of the clan, Stan will have to adapt to working side-by-side with the most unique people with shady backgrounds — even if he is not a team player by nature and has already failed at the very beginning by choosing the least suitable class for teamwork: Battle Monk.

Stan is rebellious, free-spirited, and daring. He risks his life every day just to avoid getting bored of the daily grind. Normally, an expelled student has no hope of entering the virtual world of Artar, an expensive online VR project, but when a suspicious organization offers to pay all expenses to let Stan in for a special purpose, Mongoose gets his chance to become one of the select few. However, to successfully complete his trial, Stan will have to face his main enemy — himself, while finding peace and mastering all five styles of the Battle Monks of Artar.

Voyage of the Lanternfish – C. S. Boyack

An honorable man is mistaken for his disreputable father. Now he’s pushed into a political scheme to start a war that will spread across multiple kingdoms. James Cuttler’s fiancé is being held captive to ensure he goes through with the plan.

He soon decides his skills are at sea and procures a ship to wage war upon those who disrupted his simple life. He can’t do it alone, so he recruits a band of cutthroats to help him. But first, they need guns and munitions to outfit the ship properly. Deception and trickery will only get them so far. Eventually, they’re going to have to engage the enemy.

James’ goals aren’t necessarily the same as his crew. It’s a delicate balancing act to collect enough loot to keep his crew happy, while guiding them back to rescue the girl.

Warhammer Chronicles: Warriors of the Chaos Wastes – C. L. Werner

Many horrors stalk the blasted wastes at the top of the world. Mortals and daemons alike wage war – and in this volume are three tales of such monstrous, god-touched warriors.

The Chaos Wastes are an unspeakable region of magic and madness. In this hellish tundra, the Dark Gods wrestle for supremacy and champions war in their name. Death comes for any who traverse these plains in swift and savage form. Yet there are those who dare brave the wastelands, burdened by their own dark purposes. Wulfrik the Wanderer, cursed by the Ruinous Powers, seeks a prize to appease the forces of Chaos; the Skulltaker, champion of Khorne, hungers for fresh blood; and the last warrior of a Norse tribe sets out to steal the treasure of a god. But in this monstrous arena, there are no winners. Dark forces plot, daemons feed, and even the landscape itself takes sides. This omnibus contains three novels by one of Black Library’s popular authors.

READ IT BECAUSE: These three classic novels exploring the nature of Chaos are from the master of dark fantasy, C L Werner – if you’ve not experienced them, you owe it to yourself.

Will of Fire (Buried Goddess Saga #3) – Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle

A Kingdom held hostage. A thief lost in time. The battle to seal Elsewhere has begun.

The villainous Drad Redstar has won the favor of king and country after leading a decisive victory over the rebels at Winde Port. Now with a seat on the royal council, he condemns Torsten to a lifetime in the dungeon and invites his militant people to take up residence in the capital. But not all light has been squelched. There is one disgraced King’s Shieldsman left who remains loyal to Torsten, and only he can help free the Glass Kingdom from Redstar and his dark desires to revive the Buried Goddess.

Across the known world, Sora deals with the loss of her one and only friend. She seeks out a Mystic of the Panping; someone who can help her figure out what really happened to Whitney in a journey that illuminates her past and present. With the true nature of magic revealed to her, she finds that Whitney is lost in Elsewhere, the world between worlds, and she’ll stop at nothing to bring him back.

As magic and war collide in Will of Fire, the third installment in the Buried Goddess Saga, the fate of the entire world will change.

New Release Roundup, 19 January 2019: Fantasy and Adventure published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

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