Ormraxes said:
This is just about as off topic as it gets, but since I'm bumping this thread in the process I hope it is okay 
. While reading an old thread I happened upon your thread about killing a wyrm green dragon with a 10th level DWS, Kai Lord. I read the whole thing, expecting an amusing conclusion. But there was no update at the end. Ack, I feel cheated. Would you mind telling what happened (or didn't happen) all those months ago?
Wow! Whatever made you dig that sucker up?
But its funny you should ask, because we
did play out that encounter, though not quite as we were originally going to set it up.
We decided not to go against "official" Dragonlance continuity, so we set Elijayess Moondshadow, my then 8th level Kagonesti Barbarian/Ranger against the Green Dragon Highlord in charge of the forces responsible for invading Silvanost.
Elijayess led a small force of Silvanesti rangers just outside the elven forest to infiltrate the camp of the Dragonarmy and poison their food supplies and assassinate a couple of their commanders. It was a force about 5,000 strong, but our efforts ending up claiming the lives of several hundred of them, enough to seriously draw their attention and cause them to send out some major patrols to find and destroy whoever did that to them.
Our hope was to throw them into enough disarray to prevent a land invasion but we knew there were dragons on the way so King Lorac had evacuated most of the capital city in case we weren't able to stop them.
The dragonarmy still wasn't sure what they were dealing with, and it was all too easy for Elijayess to bait a patrol of nearly two hundred men and ogres into walking into an ambush where a larger force of Silvanesti archers cut them to pieces from above.
But it would all be for not unless we could take out the Highlord, who had yet to make an appearance. In time he did, and when he saw the bodies in camp and heard of the missing patrols, he saddled up his adult Green Dragon and took flight.
Elijayess and the Silvanesti rangers were going to risk their lives to take out the Highlord with the hopes that his death would halt the invasion.
So here was Elijayess' plan:
He knew the Dragonrider would eventually find the remains of the large patrol slaughtered by the elves, so he would hide himself about a hundred yards away and try and slay the Highlord with an arrow coated in wyvern poison. He had several, but hoped it would take only one to do the trick.
In the event that he wasn't able to take out the Highlord with one lethal shot, he knew a backup plan was in order. So he suggested four griffons be standing by with Silvanesti riders near his hiding place ready to take flight in four different directions to confuse the dragon and rider as to who was shooting at him.
Elijayess would stay hidden on the ground assuming the Highlord to focus on one of the griffon riders and using that time to fire two or three more poisoned arrows. If Elijayess
still failed in slaying the Highlord, whichever griffon the dragon locked onto would soar at its greatest speed to a ridge about a thousand yards away where the remaining 60 Silvanesti would launch a hail of arrows at the Dragonrider, hopefully killing him and most likely sacrificing every one of their lives to the Green in the process. Elijayess hoped it would never come to that...
So the elves agreed, they were fighting for their homeland and way of life, if not for themselves then their loved ones and the generations to follow. They offered a stag as tribute to the four griffons and informed them of the danger (on Krynn griffons can talk.) The griffons accepted the tribute but did not eat it, and agreed to the plan.
So Elijayess took up his position and eventually the Highlord and his dragon appeared. His keen elven senses detected the alarm of the Dragonrider at witnessing his once proud fighting force becoming fodder for crows.
"Gas that ravine! The filth of this forest picks at my men!" The Highlord boomed.
"Let them." Replied the Green, obviously annoyed to be under the command of a puny human.
Elijayess watched as the Highlord invoked the name of her Dark Majesty, Tahkisis, and reminded the Green that its queen, its
god, had empowered the warrior to dictate the actions of the great beast while her armies advanced.
The dragon relented and gassed the ravine. Elijayess raised his bow and let loose a single arrow and rolled...a natural 20! It was unreal! Remember in that thread so many months ago how so much would be riding on critical strikes? Well by God it happened. Not against the dragon but the Highlord riding it.
And then he rolled maximum damage. All that was left was a Fort save against the poison. The Highlord (a 12th level Fighter) needed an 8 or higher to succeed. He rolled...a 12. Blast! Still alive but he suffered a massive 56 points of damage in one shot!
The Highlord was still reprimanding the dragon when a black feathered arrow sailed from Elijayess' mighty longbow a hundred yards away and erupted out the front of his chest. That was the surprise round.
The Highlord gurgled in excruciating pain as he clutched the wound and the dragon circled around. Now Elijayess had a choice to make. Suddenly the whole "stay on the ground while the griffons escape" didn't sound like such a good idea. At all.
But he
had to take out that Highlord. If the poison could take effect he could kill him in another shot but if he didn't he'd be forced to spend a full round action Rapid Firing and the dragon would be upon him. He took the -2 for a Rapid Shot and quickly fired. A hit! The Highlord rolled his save, a 7! DM rolled Con damage, double 6's! Unbelievably, it happened! It wasn't a critical this time but with the arrow damage and HP loss to Con damage he took 86 points of damage with the second shot, and sent him way past -10 HP. Elijayess watched the arrow plunge into the Highlord's heart and cause a massive full body spasm before he went totally limp in the saddle.
Now even though Elijayess had taken the -2 for a Rapid Shot, my DM ruled that he could forgoe his follow-up attacks and just treat the shot as a hasty standard action and still make a standard move.
He hauled ass and jumped onto the back of a griffon behind the Silvanesti rider and shouted, "Go!"
Now things started to get a bit messy. The DM rolled initiative for all four griffons but the one I had jumped onto rolled so much higher than the other three he ruled that they were caught off guard by how quickly I dispatched the Highlord and didn't take to flight in the unison we had planned. I startled my griffon and we burst into the air significantly before the other three.
The dragon fixed his eyes on us and gave chase. Now Elijayess could have possibly led the dragon to the ridge and possibly escaped after the dragon became distracted by a hail of Silvanesti arrows but that would cause unimaginable casualties to the hiding elves. Not an option. Which meant I had to think of something quickly because the Green was bearing down on us
fast.
All we could do was try to outmaneuver the great beast, a straight line race would have been suicide. I thought of Blue Thunder where Roy Scheider took his chopper in a loop straight up and over his enemy's head causing the enemy chopper to stall when he tried to follow.
In Dragonlance terms that equates to "Higher, higher and as far back as you can!" Our only chance for escape seemed to be to outclimb the Green and hopefully make the chase as uncomfortable as possible. And then I learned about a little aerial feat called Wingover. The dragon had it, and put it to good use.
He weaved and spun to maximum effect and not only had no trouble matching our aerial maneuvers, he was still
gaining on us. As we climbed the Green opened his mouth and cast a
web at us; the griffon barely dodged it. This was futile, we had no hope of escape without a radical change in tactics. But what could we do?
"Dive!" Elijayess screamed, his entire body shaking with dragonfear. "Its our only hope! Plunge past the tops of the trees and hope the dragon follows!"
The griffon obeyed and reversed his climb into a plummeting dive back down toward the forest. The DM ruled that this momentarily caught the dragon off-guard but he still was able to turn and bear down on us in a matter of seconds. The Green readied a
shocking grasp and as he opened his mouth to strike Elijayess noticed out of the corners of his tear streaked eyes an entire flight of Greens on their way toward Silvanost. Oh no! The capital would fall!
Then the dragon was upon them. His massive jaws clamped onto one of the griffon's haunches as Elijayess wildly swung his bastard sword while still holding onto the Silvanesti rider with his other arm. He just barely missed doing any HP damage but still soundly connected with the dragon's natural armor.
However, the DM rolled so low for the Green's bite and
shocking grasp combo that he ruled that Elijayess struck one of the dragon's teeth as it clamped into the griffon, breaking off the tooth and causing most of the electricity to be absorbed into the magic sword. No other effect since it wasn't an official hit, but hella cool.
The dragon then noticed our descent toward the deadly and jagged treetops of the Silvanesti forest and unleashed a
glitterdust right in front of us! We were now plunging straight at the trees completely blind and risked horrid impalement. The DM determined that the griffon would need to make an extremely high (for the griffon anyway) Concentration check, and passed with a natural 17. Covered in gold dust we soared beneath the treetops and leveled out. Had the dragon followed? Of course not.
He chuckled loudly. "Elves, you amuse me. I'm actually grateful to be rid of the pestering tick on my back. Why do you flee?"
"Why do chase us?" Elijayess shouted through clenched teeth.
"What Green could resist his favorite delicacy?" The dragon smirked evilly.
While the wounded griffon weaved and dodged through the trees, the large dragon sailed effortlessly above matching their speed with ease.
It appeared to be the end for Elijayess. The day was won, but it would have its price. His life. He ripped off the large vial of wyvern poison and held it above his head, preparing to douse it all over himself and the rider in front of him.
"You will choke on our venom before you savor elf flesh tonight!" The Kagonesti shouted.
The Green laughed. "You are brave elf, and have fought well today. I admit, I am impressed. As for venom...I'VE BROUGHT MY OWN!"
And with that Elijayess could feel the air around him being sucked into the dragon's mouth before an enormous cloud of stinking, rancid gas spewed from the great beast's jaws. The world went black. But not just for Elijayess. Something sucked all light from the clouds to the horizon and converged every particle into a tiny green orb that appeared to be centered in a distant part of the woodlands, in Silvanost.
Then an unholy sound erupted and a wave of magical energy burst forth from the orb and rippled throught the entire Silvanesti forest, blasting, twisting, corrupting. In an instant the very land had become the stuff of nightmares. Elijayess noticed that the pursuing Green also seemed fixed on the tiny light centered deep in the forest. The dragon appeared to nod then turned and flew away.
The poison cloud burned the griffon and its riders but they survived as they sailed above the trees. The sight was horrifying. The entire forest. The beautiful, mighty woodland that homed and protected the Silvanesti for thousands of years had become a dreamscape of evil. The 60 archers would have been caught in the middle of it. Had they become corrupted as well? What evil force could do this? What of Lorac? If he had fallen then the fleeing elf people would have no king.
Nothing could explain what had happened save for one thing. Evil had won the day. With a beat of its powerful wings, the griffon carried its riders to safety.
So that's what happened. Any questions?
