Outsiders of Aera

How old was the dragon? And what are the levels of the party members again?

Hello Broccli_Head! The party is currently 9th level (except Tarmus' cohort, Yeric, who is 8th level). They fought an adult blue dragon (CR 13). The average party level is 11, so the fight was "very difficult" according to the DMG (and dragons shouldn't be a push over IMO). The dragon escaped (barely, he was looking very bad as he flew away), so he lives to fight another day (or flee if that is what he wants to do).

Query for the party: Does the party want to revive Gwen first or attempt to take out the dragon (without Gwen)? It will likely take until the following day (at the very earliest, if not longer) for Gwen to be revived and possibly another day for her to recover (depending on what spell is used). It's something to consider, and letting me know in advance always helps.

Later!

Cloudgatherer said:

Hello Broccli_Head! The party is currently 9th level (except Tarmus' cohort, Yeric, who is 8th level). They fought an adult blue dragon (CR 13). The average party level is 11, so the fight was "very difficult" according to the DMG (and dragons shouldn't be a push over IMO). Later!

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I agree wholeheartedly. BTW, if you have Monsters of Faerun, I suggest the use of a shadow dragon. They are quite nasty.

Well, we fought our first dragon, which in a game called Dungeons and Dragons, you would think would be a common occurrence. Of course dragons are no pushovers, but I didn't really expect the feeling of being food. We didn't really have that great a plan, ok ok, we had no plan. As one of the party fighters, I am there to protect the rest of us and make immediate tactical decisions. The role that I failed in was party leader. I should not have let us go after a dragon without any information at all. This was foolish. I did try to get the part information gatherers (Bard, Rogue and Wizard) to find out all that they could, but nothing was found.

As a player, I have read the monster manual entry on dragons, I know that they are a force to be reckoned with. You don't get a game system named after you for nothing. Does Remus know this? I think not. The only dragons he has seen was baby white (a threat back at level 2, but not much in retrospect) and Maldrator, the ancient blue who helped us immensely. Neither of these dragons were particularly aggressive, they were downright friendly. Remus is also in another plane, and not everything is the same, but enough is (we speak the same language at least) Here we have dealt with demons and armies. How bad could a dragon be? The Ranger, whose favored enemy is dragon, was downright eager to go and slay this beast.

And now Gwen is dead. If we had a plan this might have been avoided. Everyone made fairly good combat decisions and acted well individually, but we weren't quite working as a team. Luck was not with us: Remus made eight attacks, two of which rolled over six and Lor had just under half of his spells get past the dragons SR. The dragons ability of true seeing (I think) cramped the style of the more stealthy of party members.

We did manage to make the dragon run away, though I don't think that it was that injured. Dragons are an intelligent creature. Maybe it was just playing with us at first, then realizing that it couldn't simply pick us up and eat us it retreated to change tactics. I hesitate to say this knowing that my DM is going to read this, but I honestly belive any creature that can fly fast and breath death should never engage in melee combat. But the only way our party can effectively fight is close up. We do have some deadly ranged specialists, but protecting them is near impossible against a dragon breath attack.

We need to out think this beast. Trap is somewhere. But up on some mountain top where ground is scarce and sky is plentiful, we are just food.

Remus said:

And now Gwen is dead. If we had a plan this might have been avoided. Everyone made fairly good combat decisions and acted well individually, but we weren't quite working as a team. Luck was not with us: Remus made eight attacks, two of which rolled over six and Lor had just under half of his spells get past the dragons SR. The dragons ability of true seeing (I think) cramped the style of the more stealthy of party members.

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Planning, a little better teamwork, or a little more luck would have ended the dragon's life. The party had a great deal of time under the ledge before the combat began (it was Star's idea to seek cover under the ledge in the first place). However, the combat just sort of started: the dragon got the surprise round instead of the party getting it. Also, Star was out of combat (with horrendous teethmarks in him IIRC, down to 9 hp), making only two attacks against the dragon the entire time. And of course, rolling over 10 on your attack rolls does help.

OOC knowledge, the dragon has blindsight. He just "knows" who's within a certain distance (using smell, vibrations, etc). Hence the reason he didn't go for Tarmus' illusion: 1) dragons do know a bit about spellcraft and 2) they don't register as "real" to his blindsight.

And since no one has answered my previous query, what is the party going to do? Taking on the dragon is going to be more difficult the next time, he has a feel for who the threats are (Gwen, Lor) and how he might better prepare for the battle. Letting me know what you want to do helps me make a better adventure.

Well. We cannot revive Gwen without some heavy duty stuff.
And we cannot take the Dragon until our spell casters and Rogue rest a bit (I am still badly injured)

But my vote is for an All-or-Nothing strategy. Either our spellcasters use all their spells for healing, all of them for bang, or all of them for juice. When we don't do things half we are quite formidable, but blood is something of a concern.

We shall see.......

Reminder to the rest of the party

Well, Remus and Canthor anyway.

You all did get to see Maldraetor in action against a Horde of several thousand orcs, which he defeated handily (once he was allowed to manifest outside the temple again) and u got to see most of a Dragons sensory powers through Halshimar (but then again, Halshimar is a Whack-Job).

Departures

Gale had carefully placed the lifeless body of Gwen in a spare blanket and placed her on the back of her horse. In the meantime, Canthor was shaken by the loss of his friend.

"We should go back to Aenith. We need to help Gwen," he pleaded with the party. His companions weren't in any condition to go anywhere and rest took the top priority.

"I say we exact our revenge on the dragon first," argued Star. "Once it is slain, we can use its hoard to help revive Gwen." This argument convinced the protective cleric of Bryle, who concerned himself with protecting the party against the perils of adventuring.

"In any event, we need to rest and we need a plan..." Star continued. Star scoured the mountains for a suitabe cave, finding one after several hours. During their rest, the party planned their strategy. Gale, Remus, and Star would form the "deadly triangle" with the help of Canthor's strength enhancing spells. Lor would remain toward the rear of the party, slinging spells as fast as he could, while Tarmus would haste as many as he could with his brother Yeric providing him protection.

It was with this resolve the party proceeded to the dragon's lair with the map Armathon had provided. Armathon was a travelling merchant, who had had some precious gemstones stolen from him. After paying for some divination magic, he managed to determine where the gems were and that a dragon guarded them. In exchange for the map to the lair, the party agreed to return the gemstones, keeping the rest of the dragon's treasure.

At the entrance to a large cave, Canthor began placing lighting protection on his companions. From their last encounter, the dragon's breath had dealt a significant amount of damage to the party. As they crept down the wide tunnel, Star could faintly her strange words being spoken a good distance ahead of him. He then heard nothing.

"Beware the sound of the whispering wind and the shifting sands," Bryle had told Canthor in his divination. Star crept forward quietly, but a bright light flashed before him, revealing the blue dragon they sought with the flash of his lightning breath.

Star was a bit more agile this time than last, and twisted to the side as came inches from crisping him. The bolt continued on pass the elven rogue, stopping a mere half-step from Remus.

The party started to put their plan in motion. Gale, Star, and Remus formed up as the dragon placed a silence spell near the spellcasters. The cave wasn't echoing as much sound as it should, the sounds were very quiet despite the dragon's great size and impressive lightning blast.

Tarmus and Yeric stuck close together as Canthor provided some additional last minute spells to assist his party members. Lor, with a haste provided by Tarmus, began bombarding the dragon, deftly defeating his spell resistance. In response, the dragon breathed on Lor, seeking to end the cause of so much of his pain.

Two lightning breaths slammed into the elven mage, the second nullifying his lightning protection magic and giving him a good shock. Another one of those and all that would be left of him would be smoking boots. Canthor quickly came to his aid, giving him as much protection as he can. Lor returned the dragon's favor as his first wave of ten magic missles inflicted damage on the creature, but the second wave of ten was turned away. While waiting for Remus and Gale to prepare for a charge, Star threw a sunrod into the cave, lighting up dragon's lair.

Meanwhile, the "triangle of death" had just charged in on the dragon. Only managing to strike the creatures thick hide, the dragon retreated by burrowing under the sand in his circular cave. The party could see the shifting sand as the dragon moved about.

For several long breaths the dragon remained under the sand. Finally, he emerged and unleashed another bout of deadly lightning breath, this time striking three of the party members in a single line shot. Fortunately, the dragon's lightning was absorbed by the lightning protection provided by Canthor, and the "triangle of death" began its slicing and dicing as another wave of missle streaked into the dragon from Lor.

Battered and weakened, the dragon flew up onto a ledge, positioning himself to unleash another fury of lightning. As he reached the ledge, Remus took out a javelin of returning he acquired from a dwarven cleric of war and flung it at the creature. The weapon sank right into the dragon's flesh, collapsing the dragon on its ledge as the javelin returned to Remus' outstretched hand.

The party rejoiced over its victory, and quickly set to "collecting." Star was intensely interested in the dragon's bile and in total the party stripped the dragon of scales, horn, and teeth. The party also collected the dragon's treasure in their bag of holding, which consisted of several thousand gold pieces, a variety of gems (including Armathon's), and a painting of a man dressed in armor sitting in the Great Library. The painting was promply sold for gold upon return to Aenith.

Back in the city of Bryle, the party tended to Gwen's arrangements. Canthor had asked Gwen's dead body what she wanted, and she told them she preferred to stay dead and wanted a nice coffin, tombstone, and a small ceremony. The party provided her the service and placed her in Aenith's graveyard.

The next day, Lor took Remus back to the Forge of Liquid Fire. Razorback greeted Remus in his hearty dwarven fashion and showed off his dwarven waraxe made of the meteorrite metal Remus, Star, and Tarmus had found for him. Remus also paid the remainder of what he owed on his mithral full plate armor, and Lor and Remus returned safely to Aenith.

Meanwhile, Canthor spent his time in the Temple of the Spirit, praying to Bryle about the loss of his friend. He felt the burden of guilt only his faith could alleviate.

Tarmus and Star had come to the conclusion they should get more than what had been promised them by Armathon. Three days later, when Armathon showed up to pick up his gemstones, Star was slow to turn them over. Tarmus and Star proclaimed the assignment was more lethal than they had anticipated and the loss of their party member entitled them to additional compensation. Lor rolled his eyes at the situation, leaving the table of taking Gale with him. Tarmus, Remus, and Star were left to deal with Armathon.

Armathon tried to make sense of what he was being told. "The deal was I provide you with the lair's location and in return you get the dragon's treasure minus my gemstones. Now, you've slain the dragon, worthy of song, and collected its treasure *and* you want more? Are you going back on this agreement? Are you not honest adventurers?"

This struck a cord with Tarmus, who informed Armathon he was a man of his word and asked Star to turn over the gems. Star did so, and Armathon turned to go.

Star attempted to get him to stay, as did Tarmus. They knew full well Armathon carried one of the pieces to the Medallion of the Gods, and Armathon appeared to know this as well. He only smiled at the suggestion of trading it to the party as he left the inn.

Lor and Gale approached the table and stated they would be setting off on their own. Lor will try to find or research a modified teleportation spell that would hopefully take him and Gale home. In any event, the pair would remain in Aenith for a while before setting out in search of what they needed to get home. Remus was saddened by the news, but wished them luck in their travels.

"Well, I'm going to turn in for tonight," Star proclaimed.

"Yeah, sure you are Star," remarked Tarmus as the elven rogue went to his room, and snuck out his window to follow Armathon. He did a very poor job, as Armathon quickly discovered this fact, and proceeded to another inn, the Paladin's Smite. Star checked the guest book, discovered which room he was in, and went to open the door. He only had it open a crack and could see Armathon's legs on the bed, but the man got up and closed the door, leaving the quiet Star in the hallway.

Sneaking around the outside of the inn, Star waited outside the closed window to the room. He could make out some mumbling, but nothing else. After it had been quiet for several minutes, he proceeded to open the window and creep inside. The room was absolutely empty, save for the typical furnishings. This baffled the elven rogue, even after a thorough check of the room, and he returned to the Warrior's Courage.

The next day, the party learned of an insidious rumor: Aenith's graveyard had been emptied. All the dead bodies are missing, and the authorities have started investigating.

As the awake party members pondered the meaning of the travesty, Lugtee Hardroc strode into the Courage.

"Want to steal from the Dark Wizard?" he asked with a smile. The Dark Wizard had recently completed some sort of weapon, and he was having another Mithral Blade interview prospective weilders as he was busy with the goblin/orc invasion of Polary. Lugtee had gained his information from Valgerd, the lady rogue the party managed to capture at Temorana Castle in Ralanov before the betrayal of Treespire. He also told the party the circumstances of Treespire's betrayal, having wanted to go back to retrieve the woman he was in love with, not a cache of magic items. The Dark Wizard offered Treespire the choice of betraying the party for his love, and he choose his love.

Remus and Star, the only party members at the Courage, accepted Lugtee's invitation.

Quick rundown of motivations:

Star: Wants to kill the Dark Wizard
Remus: Wants to recover the rest of the Medallion pieces
Canthor: Wants to find Surial's equipment
Tarmus: Generally doesn't like Polary, would like to see the Phantoms go the way of the dinosaur

Stealing the Dark Wizard's New Toy

"Excellent," Lugtee smiled. "I'll meet you in the Citadel in a few days, the sooner you can get there the better. Meet me at an inn known as the Bloodstained Rose." With the details worked out, Lugtee bid them a good eveningand left Warrior's Courage.

The party had just agreed to steal some new "weapon" the Dark Wizard had created. Lugtee knew some "interviewer" was examining potential weilders for the weapon, and Lugtee wanted to keep it out of their hands, preferrably through stealth.

Canthor was not as thrilled with the assignment. He had been particularly disturbed by the recent disappearance of Aenith's dead. He informed his companions he would be assisting in the investigation, joining his fellow clerics of Bryle trying to determine what happend to Aenith's graveyard. He would keep in touch with the party via his magic.

The next day, the party ventured south toward the Citadel of the Eye. The snow had been falling for the last few days and the path, while not difficult to traverse, was covered with snow. The first two days passed without incident.

On the third day, four brigands emerged from snowy hiding places along the road, and started throwing poison-tipped shurikens at the adventurers. The metallic projectiles landed into Tarmus, the other adventurers being too nimble or encased in armor.

The fight went quickly. The brigands were not novices, but were no match for seasoned adventurers. Remus' blade swirled in a green arc as he bat down brigand after brigand. In the end, Star had slain one bandit and Remus had knocked the remaining three unconscious. A thorough search of their bodies revealed they were members of the Mithral Blades, with written orders from the organization to waylay travellers along the road to Aenith. The party left the three unconscious men with only their clothing. It would be a cold walk back to the citadel for them.

The remainder of the snowy journey was uneventful. The party quickly made their way through the Citadel of the Eye, getting directions to the Bloodstained Rose.

The Citadel of the Eye sits between a break in the Deathfall Mountains, the natural border for the northern border of Polary. Due to the Citadel of the Eye itself, a city eventually sprung up around the mountain fortress. For now, the gates were open, and travellers were allowed to pass. After all, it would be foollish to attack the Citadel of the Eye as winter set in.

As the adventurers approached the inn, Star could see a human hand waving them around a corner. At first glance, the man resembled the Dark Wizard of Polary, however it was only Lugtee dressed in dark gray clothing. He warned the party of the Bloodstained Rose's patrons, many of them are Mithral Blades and it is highly likely the party could find out some information here.

Star had a plan. He proceeded in first, walking in like he owned the place and get his "regular" room 14. After getting to his room, Star took a piece of paper, folded an airplane, and flew it to where his companions waited outsided. It said simply "14." Lugtee and Tarmus proceeded to enter the inn an hour later, proceeding to room 14 and meeting up with Star. An additional hour later, Remus and Yeric entered and likewise proceed to the room. After discussing their situation, the party proceeded to join the activities in the common room. Lugtee decided he would simply retire for the evening, not particularly interested in drinking games or arm wrestlng.

The night yeilded only a little bit of information. Apparently, no one knew about any kind of weapon, but there had been a few "important" people coming through town the last couple weeks. The next morning, Tarmus and Star related their information to Lugtee, who was the only person awake in the common room early in the morning. Lugtee was pleased with the progress and the party planned to wait for another potential "interviewee" to come through while Remus posed as a powerful Mithral Blade member who would hopefully attract the attention of the interviewer.

The second day passed into the evening. As the party sat around their table in the Bloodstained Rose, a hush fell over the inn as a tall, imposing figure flung the door open. He wore a dark cloak over his black full plate armor. On his breastplate was the emblem of Balahnin, a black four pointed star surrounded by a circle of flame. An adamantine battle hung at his belt, and a shield in the shape of a lion's head. His eyes had an eerie green glow to them, his hands were tipped with sharp claws.

"I think that's him," stated Tarmus. Tarmus attempted to buy the "man" a drink, but only managed to see a twisted set of elvish features and came away with a sliced up hand as he shook the creatures hand. At one point during the evening, Star observed the creature look at a scroll of paper, and drink many strong drinks.

The creature retired to his room for the evening and Star went to work. He quietly crept into the creatures room and examined the scroll. It was an invitation to see a Mr. A. Enforo at the temple of Balahnin with the possibility of gaining a great weapon.. Star took a long time in studying the document, then spent the rest of the night making a duplicate.

The next day, Tarmus and Star set about their stealthy business. After consulting with Lugtee, Tarmus set about attempting to gain info on A. Enforo. His investigation turned up a familiar name: Armathon Enforo, the man who had hired them to slay the dragon and return some gems. He also discovered one of the Citadel's popular rumors: beholders in the underground tunnels. Of course, no one has ever lived to tell the tale.

Star also witness the "green eyed man" enter the temple. Shortly thereafter, a man in red robes and the "green-eyed one" left the temple and proceeded down the street, moving quickly into an alley. Star followed, and they went underground.

They emerged shortly later. The "green eye" did not have anything new on him.

Armed with the possible location of the weapon, the party consulted Lugtee immediately. He was in his room, as usual, and asked for a moment of privacy. Star was immediately inquisitive and demanded to know what Lugtee was doing. He admitted to checking in on "someone he was protecting" and that was all he said. Satisfied, the party laid their information out on the table. Lugtee agreed to their plan: to enter the passageway and take the weapon.

Dressed as the priest, Tarmus entered the underground passageway. Three wraiths immediately attacked Tarmus. The battle started in earnest as Remus and Star entered the fray. The wraith's touch weakened Remus severely, and slightly weakened Star as Remus responded by slaying one wraith outright. Lugtee shot two magic missles into two of the three wraiths. As the third wraith fell, four more emerged from around the corner of the well lit.

Casting a simple protective spell, Lugtee emerged into the tunnel as Tarmus began singing. Remus and Star took the first swings at the wraiths. As the party's strike team of Star and Remus engaged the wraith's, Lugtee cast a daylight spell, causing the wraiths to flee the seen. The fleeing caused Remus and Star to strike them down, only one managing to escape down the hallway, where the tunnel turned to the left. Yeric used his speed to wound the wraith once more, before it fled through the wall.

As the party rushed down the hallway, Star noticed a strange marking on the wall. Examining it closely, Star found it to be a rune protecting the suface it was on. Unfortunately, Star was unable to disarm it safely, and its powerful magic weakened him greatly (Greater Glyph of Warding: Harm).

After Tarmus tended to the severely injured elven rogue, Remus opened the stone doorway, revealing a skeleton witha purple membrane in its ribcage along with two zombies at its side. Remus used his greatsword to damage the skeleton like creature, while Star shot at it with his bow. Yeric rushed into the room, flanking the skeleton creature (Morhg) and slicing at it with his weapon.

Remus fell victim to the morhg's paralyzing tongue. As Lugtee pulled Remus away from the undead attackers. Yeric and Star continued to waylay the creature as Tarmus sung a battle hymn. Lugtee flung an acid arrow at the creature, only wounding it slightly. Yeric struck the morhg down, and quickly dispatched the zombies. As the final blows landed upon them, a skeleton in the room pulled a lever, bringing down a stone wall.

Surveying the room, Star found himself in a small shrine of Balahnin. An eleborate mosaic of Balahnin's holy symbol lay on the floor, a woman with dark red hair was chained to the wall, and an alter with a bowl of black burning flame lay under a hover black broadsword. Star proceeded to the altar while Lugtee tended to the woman. A powerful magic attempted to stop Star's approach, but Star proved too strong willed and approached the altar. Taking a vial of holy water, Star dowsed the dark flames and took hold of the black broadsword. A chill went through his body, weakening him slightly, and Star wrapped the blade in a blanket before tucking it into his bag of holding.

Meanwhile, Lugtee had determined the lady was indeed alive, but has been tortured for a while. Star, pulling her hair out of her eyes, recognized her as Lady Lia Quickwater. The Polarian ambassador had seen better days as Lugtee cast a spell releasing her from her manacles.

As Lugtee tended to Lia, Tarmus had entered the room, immediately sensing the presence of a Medallion piece. Tarmus and Star quickly located the hidden panel in the alter, revealing the Fire Chain of Balahnin and a simple metallic ring.

"Time to go," Star proclaimed, having had a successful pilaging outing. They had acquired the weapon as well as another Medallion piece, bringing them one step closer to freeing Cloudgatherer and able to send Remus home.

"Exactly how are we going to do that?" asked Remus. The stone wall was blocking their escape. Star reached into his backpack, pulling out his battering ram and handing it to Remus. As Star and Remus set to breaking down the stone wall, Lugtee supported Lia as they looked down the corridor. Lia was the first to gasp.

"Beholder!" Lia whispered coarsely to Lugtee, who relayed the message. Three beholders were coming down the corridor, presumably to end the lives of trespassers such as the party. A final ram knocked a hole through the wall, allowing the party to flee back into the Citadel.

The adventurers were ready to leave the Citadel. Lugtee would have preferred a day of recuperation, but Star was intent on fleeing deeper into Polary in order to throw off any pursuers. Star retreived the horses, and the company started to ride south, toward's Saven.

Star's plan is designed to throw off the ones interesting in gaining the item back. Riding south to Saven, then west Steelhold where the party would take a boat north to Ralanov or River's End, and finally reaching Aenith. How well the plan works, remains to be seen.....