Couplets

<snip>"I will kill you first." It said, taking a breath to emerse Jade in flames. It was at that moment that her avatar form ran out, and she was left without her buffed power, 'helpless' and at the dragon's mercy....</snip>

“No you smeggin’ beast! This woman ain’t your feast!”
Alex scrambled to his feet and towards the dragon, snatching his other ‘weapon’ from his back to see if it was anything useful. It was a lute.
“Oh Gods, what in all the hells? This is worse than bloody bells!”
The dragon paused its Blackbecue to snort a skywards plume of flame as it threw its head back and laughed again at the sight of the Fool and his pathetic weapons.

Solvay quickly examined the lute, it couldn’t be that different to a guitar, could it?
He sat down and began to play.
Somehow, in AR, he knew how to play this lute-tune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnCPRL54kbM

The dragon's expression changed from cruel to dreamy. It swayed, lulled by the music, and dropped to the ground in a deep, deep sleep.

Jade took a deep breath. “Thank goodness for that!”
Alex got to his feet and for a second he and Ms. Black beamed at each other and embraced. Even in VR their warm bodies felt good pressed against one another. They felt an electronic exchange of affection. Then, they suddenly realised what they were doing, and pulled away, coughing awkwardly.

“No time for that,” Jay told them “here’s the third!”
Alex quickly began to play his instrument again.

“SMEG OFF!” Someone yelled at the incoming Wyrm.
“Whatsch that?” Asked the aged dragon, stopping mid- air to flap-hover and hold a talon-spiked claw to its ear. “I’m afraid I don’t hear too good theshe daysh!”

“Oh shit, Solvay, your music’s not gonna work.” Jay cast around, looking for anything flammable. Wondering if you could fight fire with fire.

“Dude,” Jaxx bounded over “let me water this flower!” He delicately watered a marigold which shot up into a beanstalk and hit the dragon.
The dwarfers cheered.

Unfortunately it had knocked the creature out of the sky and he was now on the ground not far away from them. He growled and began crawling towards them with an eerie motion, before pausing to fiddle with something.

“Hold on, now just hold on there a sec.” It mumbled.
The Dwarfers looked at each other.
“... Let me just find my specs…”

“No!” Artemis cried. “We will not 'hold on a sec'." He fiddled with his arty supplies before an idea struck him. "Wait. I wonder…”
He quickly painted a door on a tree and tried the handle… It opened!
He stepped inside and nearly jumped out of his blouse, as the Dungeon Master appeared.
“Very clever, Mr Pritchard, but you must complete level one before progressing to level two.”
Artie shook his paintbrush at him.
“You sir… Are a…”
DM raised his eyebrows.
“… A total goit.” Artemis finished, and stepped back out into the clearing, harrumphing.

The dragon was crawling closer, dangerous and ferocious and frightening - despite its spectacles, and mumblings about ‘having the dropsy’.

“Well some body do something!” Evelina yelled.

Jay’s fingers found a cross which was hanging around his neck and lifted it dragonwards.
“THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!” He yelled.
Nothing happened.
“Worth a try” he shrugged. “I am Jesus…”
“Yes, you tell us all the time. (Smeg, I'm stuck tal-king in rhyme!)” Solvay grumped. He turned to Jade.
“Hey Doctor Black, can you try your attack?!”
“I can’t!” She yelped, having just stepped backwards into a bog which was rapidly sucking her in.”

Solvay didn’t see that she was swamp-bound, and assumed she meant she'd run out of energy. He double took at Evelina who implored “Do something! Play your song again!”
“Ain’t bein’ a jerk,” Solvay yelped, backing off as the dragon drew nearer “my lute doesn’t work. The old guy can’t hear. (Smeg it, he’s nearly here!)”

He looked at the other (non-swamp sucked) members of the group.
“If you don’t wanna die!” he pointed out. “Someone else has to try!”

---

<Again with the only tagging people I know are there (as yet). Let us know if you're there! Join in...
Turns out I had chance to write a speedy post as my washing machine made me stay up waiting for it to finish.
TAG Who else tries their skills out? How do we defeat the old dragon and move on to Level 2?
Who's gonna tell Jade the Bear Grylls tried and tested technique for escaping bogs?
Will the dungeon master allow her fresh clothes>>