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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Uller" data-source="post: 6828819" data-attributes="member: 413">Last night my group cleared most of the Temple of the Crushing Wave.  They killed Thaluna and Morbeoth and destroyed the Hezrou and learned that the prophets of water, air and fire have all gone down to the Fane of the Eye.  So they leveled up to 9th level and rested.  But they found the sword of dragon detection and figured out that the dragon it is detecting is a Dragon Turtle.  The Paladin has a particular enmity towards dragons.  He is a noble whose estate was destroyed by one so he has convinced the rest of the party that the turtle must be destroyed (without the water cult controlling it, it is only a mater of time before it leaves and starts attacking settlements throughout the Dessarin Vale...so it wasn't that hard to convince at least the good aligned PCs).Anyway...we'll be starting off our next session with it.  It seems to me that a fight against a dragon (even a dragon turtle) should be as epic as possible.  And it should be dangerous.  So I'm looking for ideas on how to do that.That party is 9th level.  High Elf Wizard Evoker (loves the fire spells...don't know what his first 5th level spells will be)Half-Elf Tomepact Walock (Fiend) - he frequently casts water breathing...might be usefulHuman Paladin (Vengeance)Wood Elf Monk of ShadowsThey also have Ironfang available to them and it can cast spells like Transmute Rock, Wall of Stone, Investiture of Stone, etc....It is sentient and can dominate a character.  Right now they have it socked away in a backpack where it can't make mischief...but if things get dire enough, maybe it can start tempting a PC (particularly the warlock)...We have established that Bronzefume is summoned via the gong (I added the detail of a post with manacles for sacrifices).  Also, prior to entering the temple complex the party sent two NPCs to the Vale of Dancing Waters for safety - a 7th level dwarf cleric of healing and the stonemelder Yarsha who had betrayed the Earth cult after her former home town, Red Larch, was destroyed by them.  The party didn't know that the Vale had be captured by the Oni and water cultists.  So I was thinking that the dwarf and the stonemelder were killed.  But what if they weren't?  About a week has passed....could they arrive with some reinforcement henchmen?  I don't know.What about the lair and making Bronzefume more interesting or giving her some minions or legendary actions.  A 9th level party that is completely rested and has little or no reason to conserve resources can dish out a lot of damage in a short time.  I don't want to see the turtle just get stun-locked and killed in a round or two.  There is a great potential for that.  This is almost a side quest by it's own...Bronzefume certainly isn't an obstacle to them defeating the Elder Eye.  So I don't want a TPK...but I do want there to be some risk of failure/defeat and even death.  But with risk should come some reward...Before I post my own thoughts, I'd love to hear from the community.   How do I make the encounter interesting/challenging/risky?  What about potential rewards for success?  Costs for failure?</blockquote>

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