This is the last part of the adventure which II was playing as DM with my boyfriend.
Asaf woke up. His eyes were full of sand and he felt pain in his left hip. It took him a moment to remember, what has happened. In the tomb, the necromancer revealed immediately the trick he and his goblin friend tried to play on him. He did not fell for the trap, instead he laughted with horryfying laughter. He did not kill them, though. In his eternal boredom he ordered Asaf to entertain him even more. Asaf first did not know. He tried to tell one really bad joke, but fortunatelly almost immediately decided to dance with his saber in his teeth instead. It went so well, that as reward for that show necromancer agreed to free the whole caravan if Asaf would defeat his champion. Asaf frowned with the memory on that living terror, the Medusa herself whose eyes were turning all living creatures into dead stone. He experienced few really though moments before he realized, that he could use her reflection in the shield for his advantage. Asaf was just simple soldier, fighter, he did not care much about old stories, therefore he almost paid for his lack of knowledge with his life. Finally, with his last strenght he chopped off the head of Medusa and passed out. And here he was. In the desert again, together with the rest of caravan. Nothing left from the tomb, just desert everywhere around. But in his mind he could clearly hear that terryfying voice of necromancer. 'You are brave warrior, human. I see that. I decided to keep my word and not only that. I give you magic lasso. With that rope you will be able to catch and keep any creature, mirage, ghost or illusion, living or non-living. Take it as a gift and keep in secret what you have seen in the night in this desert.'
Asaf looked around. Next to him was a long thin rope of unusual color of grey-blue. The leader of caravan Azam approached him and thanked him for their lifes.
'Without you we woud be damned for good, there is no doubt.'
Asaf just nodded and asked if they will continue to the place where they have left the carts and the statue.
It was not much of surprise that their possessions were no longer there. The carts were completely looted, some were damaged, some even burned. The statue was gone. And what was the worst - no water has been left since someone has turned over the water wagon. Some wagons displayed scretches like from some gigantic claws. It was all very strange, however Asaf decided not to investigate any of weird circumstances and waited for the morning instead.
Next day Asaf left the rest on the spot and alone headed to seek the help. The heat was almost unbearable and it was not even the noon. After some time he was sure, that if he does not suceed, their caravan will be lost. He continued on his camel for several hours. Finally, in the distance he noticed glittering and few shadows, looking almost like a trees. His heart sung when he ordered the camel that direction. Water! Water was close! They have ridden for another hour. The oasis was closer, but still far. Unbelievably far. They continued. After three hours, they could not tell, if they got any closer. It almost looked like if the oais was always the same distance.
'Fata Morgana!' Cried Asaf and jumped from his camel into the sand. 'Fata Morgana! he cried and fell of his knees. 'Into the hell with this goddamn mirage!' he swared and cried. As he sat there he felt, like something from his belt fell into the sand. The magic rope. He did not pay attention and cried in anger. 'I hate this desert! I hate this situation! Why am I here! There is nothing I can do!! What can I do??!!!'
He cried and cried in frustration. He swore and blamed his miserable fortune. He accused gods for his situation and expressed deep dissatisfaction with his life story and the way it unfolded. He returned magic rope to his belt and continued crying. He had been upset for really long. When he finally calmed down and looked up, he noticed that he was not alone.
In front of him was a Devil. Standing there, red and devilish as he was, he did not even bother to wear a disguise.
'Hi,' said Devil friendly. 'Do I hear someone in trouble?'
Asaf was speechless. Devil smiled. 'You don't need to be ashamed for that. We all need a little help sometimes, am I right?'
'Ehm, yes?' Asaf was starring at the creature. How the hell did Devil appear here? Asaf found it very disturbing.
'So, what can I do for you? Oh, don't worry. It was just a rethoric question. Let's say that I can help you from the misfortunate situation you are in, what about that?'
'And what does it cost?' Asaf asked suspiciously.
'What do you mean?' Devil seemed confused.
'I mean,' Asaf explained patiently, 'What will I have to pay you for this help of yours?'
'I see!' Devil burst in laughter. 'You thought you will have to give me your soul?? HAHAHA!' Devil was laughting until the tears run down his face. 'This is great, HAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!'
'Alright, enough!' Asaf said. 'I have hard time believing that the Devil would want to do something for free?'
'And yet, here I am!' Devil grinned. 'And my help will cost you nothing. Almost nothing.'
'Here we go.' Asaf looked very frustrated.
'Oh, come on!' Devil reacted playfuly. 'I really don't want anything. Just your will!'
'My will???!!'
'Calm down, will you? I just want your will for three little occassions in future. Nothing more. I promise.'
Asaf looked shocked. 'What occassions do you exactly mean?'
'Ah, don't worry about that. Nothing big. For example going for me to collect the post or something like that.' Devil looked as innocently devil can. 'What do you say, friend? Do we have a deal?'
'NOOOO!' screamed Asaf. 'We do not have a deal!! I am not giving my sould to the devil!!!'
'It's not the soul, it's just a will! Don't be so superstitious, my friend!'
'No no no no no!!!!! I am not dealing with the devil!! F*ck off!! Never!' One could see that Asaf did not enjoy this kind of conversation at all.
'As you wish,' Devil sighted. 'But I would advice you to take this chance. You think you have a problem now, but the true is, that it is nothing in comparism to what you don't know yet.'
'I am not selling my soul to the devil!!!' Asaf yelled. 'I am not selling my soul to the devil!!'
'And what makes you think it is not mine already?' The devil's smile disappeared from his face, his eyes glowed and he was gone.
Asaf was again alone in the desert. Shaken and shocked he continued to hunt Fata Morgana, dedicated to find his faith, whatever it ment. It has to be noted, that in this point of the story, he did not know much about blue dragons. He was a warrior, who barely belived in any dragons and once even expressed the opinion, that there possibly cannot be any dragons in the desert. Unfortunately, he could not be more wrong. He did not know about blue dragons' magical abilities to summon Fata Morgana, to create and destroy water neither didhe know about their undying vanity and hording nature. He was about to learn a lot about this in a few hours of life he had left. In the next moment a gigantic head of young blue dragon raised from the sand, caught piece of his cloth in his teeth and flew away, carrying Asaf with him. It might have been useful if Asaf would pay enough attention and kept in mind that he had a magical lasso, which might have been eventually capable of capturing young blue dragon. But Asaf was careless fighter and did not feel the need to remember anything. He was proud and disengaged, he did not fear the death. Poor Asaf.
They found his remains few days later. The caravan was approached by very annoyed and arrogant angel in the form of desert fenek and they were led to the dragon's hideout. Young bue dragon kept there stolen statue of the goddess and even created the little pond of water to satisfy his thirst. They were lucky and managed to capture him in the sleep (with this magic lasso they found on Asaf's body). When they had statue back, the angel grumpily returned to the heaven. The caravan continued on their road, hoping to sell captured blue dragon on the way and grieving for poor Asaf, who ended in his belly. They erected a stone on that place. The writing on it read 'Here rests brave warrior, who was fierce and dangerous, but underestimated the laws of this rough land. May we all remember him!'