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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Demetrios1453" data-source="post: 9437518" data-attributes="member: 6801060">Curse of the Azure Bonds (Part 17): The Cave of the Dracolich (Part 4)[ATTACH=full]376842[/ATTACH]There are only 12 of them, but the problem is simple: they have magic resistance. Normally doing enough damage to a group of spellcasters to disrupt their casting is a simple fireball away, but not here. And the real issue is that they'll be happy to cast hold person early and often. If I don't get lucky, that likely means characters getting killed instantly. This is in contrast to fighting the group of warriors earlier, or a (hypothetical, but not really hypothetical as we'll see) fight with mages, as the worst they can do is just regular damage and not insta-kills.So, let's wade in and try our best...[ATTACH=full]376843[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376844[/ATTACH]Darn, the necklace of missiles apparently has a pretty short range...[ATTACH=full]376845[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376846[/ATTACH]Sigh, we have to do it, until we can move her closer.Thankfully fireball has a much better range.[ATTACH=full]376847[/ATTACH]And some do get damaged...[ATTACH=full]376848[/ATTACH]Repeat with Brin...[ATTACH=full]376849[/ATTACH]Whew, that one lost a spell!And even Akbar...[ATTACH=full]376850[/ATTACH]But even with that barrage, there are still plenty whose magic resistance held up. Thus, a short time afterwards, Bant gets unlucky, fails a save on a hold person, and...[ATTACH=full]376851[/ATTACH]And as others in that big group around Baroness Bella start to cast, I realize this is a lost cause, and need to reload.OK, Take 2:[ATTACH=full]376852[/ATTACH]The barrage begins again.First Bragir goes:[ATTACH=full]376853[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376855[/ATTACH]Then Akbar:[ATTACH=full]376856[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376857[/ATTACH]Then Brin:[ATTACH=full]376858[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376859[/ATTACH]Brother Baltor tries to help:[ATTACH=full]376860[/ATTACH]But it doesn't go so well...[ATTACH=full]376861[/ATTACH]Buffy has wisely moved to a better position and then delayed her action until some of the drow get closer:[ATTACH=full]376862[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376863[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376865[/ATTACH]Akbar again:[ATTACH=full]376866[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376867[/ATTACH]Brin goes for ice storm this time.[ATTACH=full]376868[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376869[/ATTACH]As you can see, the constant barrage has managed to keep them mostly unable to cast spells. But, soon enough, the inevitable happens...[ATTACH=full]376870[/ATTACH]Indeed, so has Baroness Bella. This is, obviously, not an ideal situation.[ATTACH=full]376871[/ATTACH]But all is not lost! Because they didn't rush forward this time, we have a remedy![ATTACH=full]376872[/ATTACH]Baroness Bella is un-held...[ATTACH=full]376873[/ATTACH]And Brother Balor joins in: [ATTACH=full]376874[/ATTACH]And Bant is now no longer held either!The barrage keeps up. Just to save room, I'm not showing all of them, but the fireballs, ice storms, and necklace of missiles attacks go non-stop, some hitting a lot of them, some just getting a few, but keeping their spellcasting to a minimum (the melee are of course hitting whoever they can in this endeavor). However, a couple still get through, and Brother Baltor and Akbar are both held. Akbar at least is far enough back to not worry about, but Brother Baltor is on the front line. Annoyingly, he's my only source of any remaining dispel magic spells now, so both of them are stuck until the end of the battle. I'll just have to play defense around them.One drow was near Brother Baltor, but after focusing on him, he drops and Brother Baltor is no longer in immediate danger of being killed instantly.[ATTACH=full]376876[/ATTACH]We've worn them down considerably, and all of them are now basically locked in place (as, unless their morale breaks, they won't move away and risk taking opportunity attacks from party members next to them).With three of them nicely lined up, Bragir moves up to try to really damage them...[ATTACH=full]376877[/ATTACH]And soon enough, we're down to one...[ATTACH=full]376878[/ATTACH]And with some help from Buffy, finally down to zero.Whew! This seriously is one of the toughest battles in the entire series. It's certainly no shame in skipping it, but it's nice to have bragging rights to say you've survived it![ATTACH=full]376879[/ATTACH]Other than our two held characters, they seem to have pretty much focused on Baroness Bella, with everyone else basically unharmed.The hold person fades immediately after the battle, but after casting a truly prodigious amount of spells, it's time to rest (and save! I'm not going through that again!)[ATTACH=full]376880[/ATTACH]Our rest is interrupted...[ATTACH=full]376881[/ATTACH]But thankfully they move on. That's patrol #7, so we're nearly to the point where we can rest freely!After resting, we move to the north and east.[ATTACH=full]376882[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376883[/ATTACH]Ankhegs! Luckily there are only five, plus two drow.Bragir is going to try something new:[ATTACH=full]376884[/ATTACH]But it doesn't really do much, other than block the flank.[ATTACH=full]376885[/ATTACH]Well, if cloudkill doesn't do much, good old fireball will. Brin casts away, but, unfortunately, given their position against a wall, it's hard to get a good number of them in the AoE.[ATTACH=full]376886[/ATTACH]Akbar follows suit:[ATTACH=full]376887[/ATTACH]He's getting quite handy with those, now that he's at a decent level!My melee have been handling the ones up top, but also are being subject to their acid attacks, and thus have taken some damage. Buffy, especially, has been a target. But soon enough, we've taken them down, and the battle is over.[ATTACH=full]376888[/ATTACH]Time to rest up once again![ATTACH=full]376889[/ATTACH]And we'll end the post there. Next time, we have some more brutal battles with large numbers of drow. And will we escape the cave?</blockquote>

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