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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Graf" data-source="post: 1159929" data-attributes="member: 3087">I suppose I should stress that I'm not looking particularly for a perfect tpk or anything. I just think that evil intelligent foes should be cunning. And that dealing with/trying to outsmart or use a dragon needs to be very difficult.Especially if the Blue dragon is your BBEG this kind of thing only establishes him as a heavy weight and the kind of opponet appropriate for your players.If you want to be fiendish, but not kill of the party you might give the dragon a whole nother layer. What if he thinks the psions -might- pose a threat to his plans in the future (remembering that dragons think in centuries). Why not take advantage to set-them-back....Betrayal Layer 1 (same in both versions): The dragon tells the party he'll attack the FoD and give them a chance to get the obsidan needle.Here's one possibilityBL 2: Not wanting risk his scaly hide against a whole lot of evil people, or be attacked by the psions by mistake, he tells the psions about the upcoming attack. To further ingraciate himself with the psions he tells them about the party. They give him some powerful objects and he comes to the Zigg to lend aid in case they have trouble holding off the FoD.  The party is found out and caught (but the psions don't trust the dragon fully so they aren't killed, or else the psions just want answers as to why the PCs want the needle and don't think the group is a threat).BL 3: The rulers (the witch queens) are proud and think they can handle the FoD but as insurance they keep the dragon close by, with them in the Ziggaurat, to release as a secret weapon to crush the FoD. His attack will be the signal for the reserve force to attack as well. The FoD does press them hard at the critical juncture they ask the dragon to attack and.... he eats them.Chaos erupts everyone goes nuts weird psonic effects start cacading around. The dragon grabs a bunch of the psions most powerful items (or else has swallowed them) and then flies off to deal a punishing blow to the FoD. With luck most of the reserve psions don't know what is happening they see the dragon and follow their last instructions to attack helping deal a severe blow to the FoD.The psionic backlash from the deaths of the queens disrupts the control over the PCs (either they were dominated or in force globes or something... I like dominated personally). They now have a chance to get the needle, the protections on which have been disabled.Result:The dragon comes out as a champ, but with a bunch of enemies. It didn't realize that the PCs would be freed by the witch queens deaths (its not a psionics expert) but it managed to shut down one foe, another possible foe, get a bunch of powerful items, and almost killed off the PCs.Here's another where the dragon doesn't betray the psions overtly.BL 2: Not really wanting to get his scaly hide dirty he tells the psions about the upcoming attack. He omits the PCs existence however. The psions give him some powerful objects and he comes to the Zigg to lend aid in case they have trouble holding off the FoD.  The party possibily, with help from the dragon, or at least it acting as a destracting force, manages to pierce the keep.BL 3: The rulers (the witch queens) are proud and think they can handle the FoD but as insurance they keep the dragon close by, with them in the Ziggaurat, to release as a secret weapon to crush the FoD. His attack will be the signal for the reserve force to attack as well. Then the needle is stolen by the party who manage to escape. The witch-queens are thrown into chaos, and the dragon using all of its guile and trickery suggests that maybe the needle is already stolen and in the FoD's hidden keep. Desperate to get back the needle they abandon caution to the wind and attack with the dragon at point in a vicious, desperate onslaught on the FoD. The psions take grave losses (as do the FoD who think the Needle is still in the zigg). Eventually the FoD realize pull back. They weren't banking on the dragon, they aren't wining and might even realize that the needle is missing. The psions are decemated but realize that things would have been much worse if the dragon hadn't been there. They pay whatever they agreed (in items) and will keep their promises to the dragon. The FoD are likewise weakened and have failed to acheive their goal (and thus can't thwart the dragon's plans).The dragon can look foward to these two groups continuing to feud in the future, it's been paid off and may even have gotten a relationship with the psions. Result:The dragon comes out well and doesn't have the surviving psions as enemies (at least not until they figure out he worked with the party, which will probably take a while). It's deceptions may fall apart in the future but it has manged to get everything it wants and any consiquent anger on the part of the psions that may result should be tempered by the tremendous beating they've taken. It's gotten a good look, up close, at how they operate and may have gotten anti psionic items from them. (PR to go with its SR, etc)Don't mean to go and script your game or anything, but I think that the addition of this extra element really adds a lot of possible fun in the game now and some great future developemnt. The PCs are in for some tight scrapes but it's not impossible for them to achieve their goals.I would think a little bit about the kind of role you want these groups to play in the future. It sounds like the dragon is going to play a big role, so he should come out well (though he could take a beating too I suppose, get some negative levels and wind up weaker and more at the party's level). If you want the psions and/or the FoD to continue on then have the battle break off ealier. By comparison if you want one of them to fade away from the game after this point and become a lesser player I would be tempted to work it so they suffer a crushing defeat.There are also possibilities for the PCs to get allies for the future.  If you want the psions in the game in an ambigous role you might have the psionic kingdom shatter as a result of the deaths of the mind witches and have a  vengance sect that starts to oppose the dragon. Likewise the FoD might take it personally and actually work with the PCs later to stop the dragon.</blockquote>

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