Surrounded

[Talon5]

I will skip the long of it. Needless to say the Riders are in a dire position- surrounded by four black dragons in the Hool Marsh. We're all 9th lvl now, we have made allies with bog giants and have ten that are suppose to meet with a force of 150 Keolandish soldiers, the lizard folk not of the renagades have joined with us.

All sounds good and we still have only the vegist of plans for the long run.

None of our allies are with us presently.

In any case the four black dragons- early in the evening we fought the large one (the other three are huge). He stomped on us and fled when we started getting healing done to keep us alive. If he'd stayed much longer he might have had a fair chance at dropping at least one of our two fighters (a human paladin and a dwarven defender).

Now we face four. We can't our run them, we have nothing to barter, and their masters want us dead. Worst yet- the GM has gotten and is using DragonLance books to build the snogard. I need some ideas, some thoughts, some ideas on how to get out of there w/o getting the whole group dead.

Thanks for your time

 

[BSF]

Oh my!

Well, without knowing what you guys have available, or how long until you get jumped, it is hard to say. Let's see, 9th level would give you 5th level spells. Any teleports available? What about Plane Shift? Any chance to use a Wall of Stone to keep yourself from being surrounded? Admittedly, being contained is almost as bad...

How about a charismatic character with good bluff? Wait, isn't this the same group that had a +2 as the highest Gather Info, or am I confusing you with someone else? OK, do you have a potion of Glibness?

Have anybody that is willing to hold them off while the rest make a run for it? Then only one person dies.

You wouldn't happen to have a Bracelet of Friends? Then if you can get one person far away quickly, have them take the bracelet and then retrieve everyone else.

Lesser Planar Ally to get something that can help get you out of there?

 

[Talon5]

No teleport, thou our sorc has Dim Door, and is down below half hp. Plane Shift to is out as an option. The sorc has Wall of Ice- present thought places one- the smallest Dragon is a sphere once she has used up her spells for Fly and Hasteing of our more dangerous combatants (the Pally and the Dwarven Defender). Course her actions are dependant on the GM's critters not attacking her right off the bat.

No bluff masters and ya, were the group that has the bitchin' (sarcastically said) gather info skills and other such skills- well dare I say that the Dwarf Cleric has a 10+ Diplomacy skills (Jack).

Running isn't really an option- as they move really fast and we're in a swamp, course the Fly spells could help, but not for long as the dragons move slightly faster and the dragons have feats that make them really dangerous (Flyby attack, using breath weapons and doing double moves, and a few other things like that).

Lesser Planar Ally would be good, but I doubt that Jack has it for the day, thou he might.

No Bracelet of Friends either.

Emmm-
My present plan is that that the Sorc (Lelenia) use Haste on herself, fly one heavy combatant (Amilor- the Pally, the Dwarven Defender- Crom, is already flying), then attempt to get some healing while making others fly.

The Archer (Grayson- Ranger/Fighter/Deepwood Sniper) will use their one ace, an Arrow of Dragon Slaying (whether its greater or not, I am unsure as it was a gift (hell it could be a +1 arrow for all we know )) on one of the big dragons. Chances that will secceed- pretty slim as I know dragons saves are fairly high esp their Fort.

After that its more like a stand and brawl it out. Grayson has +3 arrows thanks to Jack. Bromsby (the bard/wiz) will sing and dance for a few plus, the rogue (Mel) will try to get into flanking position with her Corrosive sword.

I hope that gives you a little more info, and please, ask for more info if you need. We play Saturday 1400 hrs PST.

Thanks for your time

Oh my!

Well, without knowing what you guys have available, or how long until you get jumped, it is hard to say. Let's see, 9th level would give you 5th level spells. Any teleports available? What about Plane Shift? Any chance to use a Wall of Stone to keep yourself from being surrounded? Admittedly, being contained is almost as bad...

How about a charismatic character with good bluff? Wait, isn't this the same group that had a +2 as the highest Gather Info, or am I confusing you with someone else? OK, do you have a potion of Glibness?

Have anybody that is willing to hold them off while the rest make a run for it? Then only one person dies.

You wouldn't happen to have a Bracelet of Friends? Then if you can get one person far away quickly, have them take the bracelet and then retrieve everyone else.

Lesser Planar Ally to get something that can help get you out of there?

 

[Jeph]

It might be a wiser tactical choice to use the arrow on the smallest dragon: It has a greater chance of eliminating a combatant, even if one of the lesser ones.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

the rogue (Mel) will try to get into flanking position with her Corrosive sword.

Will that do any good vs Black Dragons?

AR

 

[Stone Angel]

gee...Any chance of those bog giants coming to the rescue soon. Exactly how long do you have before they get there can you guys hide anywhere. You might even look for a more defensible position. But in a swamp? Hell surrender if thats your last option tell them to take them to their leader.

Good Luck let us know how it plays out

The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[Talon5]

Nope- it won't. Kinda of a joke, the sword is really powerful and its powers are unknown to us (GMs gift- we all get something cool and special). The latest power to develop was the corrosive abilities of the sword. The Blacks have either immunity or some high resistances to it.

Will that do any good vs Black Dragons?

AR

 

[Talon5]

The thought had occured to me, but two things stand out in my mind regarding that- first he's the only named dragon and the GM likes named villians. Second- Dragons have really high saves (min +15 for the large one) and a Slaying arrow has a 20 DC and a Greater has a 23. In either case its like a 25-40% failure chance.

I will consider your suggestion thou as that is a 15% difference. I am conferring with one other Player and he's of the mind that taking out one is better then none, while I think taking out a big one is more important.

Thanks, I hear your words and am considering your suggestion

It might be a wiser tactical choice to use the arrow on the smallest dragon: It has a greater chance of eliminating a combatant, even if one of the lesser ones.

 

[Talon5]

Thank you

I can feel your sympathy. You've been here before I see.

Dragons have a Blindsight and really bitchin' perception abilities and we have only 3 party members that have a chance of hiding with any chance of seccess vs them (Mel the rogue with her maxed out stealthy skills, Grayson the ranger type has 10s or 11s in both, and the NPC Lyada ranger/druid has Cloak and Boots that knock her up to the 20 range).

As far as defensive positons its a 45' diameter grass island, surrounded by water roughly knee depth. Move is like halved.

Surrender- an option. Thou I doubt that escape would be possible.

Regarding the bog giants- not sure they are within range, if they are I doubt they would step up to help- "dem odds is to steep."

One of the Players said something that I will not repeat here because the GM reads this once in a while and I don't want him to know we know something- just yet. I will try to remember to tell you what that is after saturday.

Thanks again

gee...Any chance of those bog giants coming to the rescue soon. Exactly how long do you have before they get there can you guys hide anywhere. You might even look for a more defensible position. But in a swamp? Hell surrender if thats your last option tell them to take them to their leader.

Good Luck let us know how it plays out

The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[BSF]

*laugh* Trying to keep a secret plan to spring on the DM? I understand the feeling. However, there are lots of times where I will actually email my DM an idea beforehand so he can keep it in mind as one of my possible options. Especially if it involves a lot of variables. I like to let him think about the options so he can have an appropriate response ready ahead of time. Some of my plans get a bit convoluted and I don't want to bog down the game if I can avoid it. Though, there have been plenty of times where we have ideas that don't make it into our discussions on our webboard. They just come up when the dice start to fall.

But, back to your situation. I woudl definitely use the slaying arrow on the dragon it is most likely to affect. With dragons the size of what you are fighting, you may be dealing with as many as 5 attacks a round from each of them. That's why I suggest trying to use walls to avoid being surrounded. Sure, if the arrow works and you take out one of the huge dragons, you got more value for the arrow. But, if it doesn't work, and the difference in the save would have been enough to take out the large dragon, then you didn't get any value for the arrow. Unless you are feeling lucky, I would stick with the odds.

When dealing with multiple tough opponents, it is always better to focus on one at a time until it falls, or leaves. Even if you drop all 4 dragons down below 10 HP, they can all still attack with full capabilities. Whereas, if you focused on one at a time, you would end up with 1 dragon that still had 40-50 HP, but you would have reduced the offensive power against you by 75%.

Let's see, it isn't likely that the Druid/Ranger has Transmute mud to rock,or control winds. If you had that, it would be fun to drop the mud to rock as soon as the dragons landed in the marsh. Assuming you could get them to land.

You could use the Wall of Ice to encourage the dragons to attack from one side only. Then, drop spike growth in the grass in front of you. If a dragon lands, they will take some damage.

If you are going to fight this out, you want to do as much as you can to setup some control of the combat area. Just standing on the hill and swinging when you see them will not work. They are faster than you and can surround you. Since Black Dragons are immune to acid, they can just breath from each direction, you will be caught in some nasty overlaps and even the rogue will probably fail a save or two. The dragons won't feel a thing. Use your spells to block off certain attack vectors.

Use some minor summoning spells to bring in air elementals and try to whip up some wind. This will force the dragons to the ground. Use spike growth to make the area they walk through do damage to them. Even entangle might slow one dragon down for 1 round. Try plant growth as well. What are the weather conditions like? Any chance of pulling off a Call Lightning?

Just a few more thoughts...