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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dark Dragon" data-source="post: 3876451" data-attributes="member: 1115">Retreat is an option...____________________The adventurers quickly realised that they are little more than spectators in the upcoming fight and risk being ground to dust. But the Aspect of Tiamat was not willing to let them go easily. Unfortunately for the party, everybody's intiative rolls were very low, especially lower than the Shadow Dragon's roll.The Shadow Dragon used his breath weapon against as many foes as possible and those were the party and Estanala...Getting 8 negative levels (4 for Jasmina, she rolled a 20 on her save) stripped the group of most magic retreat possibilities (especially Gate from the alienist). The Aspect of Tiamat then blocked the way out of the cave with a Wall of Force. Especially the Aspect's Quicken Breath feat caused some irritation among the players, because the Aspect often readied a spell after he used one of its breath weapons.Alanor revealed his true form and attacked the Aspect of Tiamat with the Judge of the Dragons. Estanala kept the Shadow Dragon busy but accomplished little other than receiving heavy blows from her foe who was using some sort of strange staff (it is a huge rail gun with some nice add-ons) in conjunction with his natural attacks. When it turned out that the party is no longer a possible threat, both the Aspect of Tiamat and the Shadow Dragon focused on Alanor. It was an unfair fight, but Alanor at least chopped off the Aspect's white dragon head. Knowing that the battle is lost, Alanor ordered Estanala to save the baby and get away. The warlock, the only one who was lucky enough to find some cover that protected him from the Shadow Dragon's breath, had a similar intention (to save the baby). In the meanwhile, Jasmina tried to gather her friends to cast a Wind Walk on them, the paladin was already dead at this time (she died fighting the Aspect), the ranger was saved by the last charge of his Ring of Nine Lifes. Estanala cast Telekinesis and moved the baby behind Alanor, then she assumed humanoid form to get away from her foes (the cave was quite full!). Alanor positioned himself to give Estanala and the warlock enough protection from the other dragons. After his last attack, he dropped his sword, awaiting the killing blow from the Aspect of Tiamat. Estanala cast a Dimension Door and escaped with the baby and the warlock. The warlock picked-up Alanor's sword in time, the last thing they saw was a dying Alanor...The rest of the party managed to escape from the cave as well and now made full use of Wind Walk to get some distance between them and their foes. The warmage carried the body of the paladin and simply headed towards Agalarond, his homeland, without bothering about the rest of the group.However, soon the Aspect and the Shadow Dragon followed and spotted Estanala (who was not in Wind Walk form). A chase across the plains of Thesk developed, and since all participating dragons had the same speed, it came down to who's the toughest. The warlock, riding on Estanala's back, gave her two potions of Lesser Restoration to keep her fit. But it was quite obvious that outrunning the Aspect of Tiamat is impossible. Jasmina offered to cast a Word of Recall, but since she has gained 4 negative levels, she couldn't take everybody with her. The ranger, still in Wind Walk form, decided to stay behind and tried to get away flying. Then Jasmina cast her spell and teleported the group into the Temple of Mystra in Immilmar, Rashemen. This was a violation of Rashemi law, since only hathrans are allowed to enter the most secret place of the hathran sisterhood within the city. The group was surrounded by hathrans immediately. The high-priest of the temple and official leader of the hathrans, Lady Myra of the Hidden Goddess, told the party that there are two ways to handle the situation: either every intruder (except for Jasmina) will be killed on the spot, or the adventurers accept a spell that wipes away every memory from the moment when they arrived in the temple. The party was unhappy about the alternative, but they decided to live. After her friends were enchanted, Jasmina's position within the sisterhood was lowered, in addition, she wouldn't be allowed to go on missions outside Rashemen that last longer than a day. In the evening, the ranger arrived in Immilmar and found his friends at Jasmina's house. Jasmina contacted the warmage via Sending and asked him to come to Immilmar as well so that she could raise the dead paladin (Jasmina advanced to CL 17 and now can cast True Ressurection). The warmage agreed to come to Immilmar the next day. During the night, the corpse of the paladin awoke as a wight (she died of too many negative levels), but because she was kept in a temple of Helm, the clerics finished the undead off immediately. The next day, the warmage traveled to Immilmar, and there the paladin was raised. Complete again, the party discussed the options. A fight against the Aspect and the Shadow Dragon was regarded as suicide (true  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f631.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":eek:" title="Eek!    :eek:"  data-smilie="9"data-shortname=":eek:" /> ). Estanala told the group everything she knows about the Aspect of Tiamat and Shadow Dragons. It turned out that there might be a chance to overcome the foes if they are separated. However, the Aspect is still a deadly foe, so only the best protection and the best weapons would give a chance to survive and win a fight. So far, the party has only two weapons capable to harm the Aspect: a green glass dagger +6 everbright and the Judge of the Dragons. Estanala asked Jasmina if she could raise Alanor as well, and the priestess answered that she would need the corpse to cast the spell. The alienist then opened two Gates, the second leading into the cave. There the Aspect of Tiamat was waiting, sitting on the battered body of Alanor...The alienist immediately closed the gate, and the party returned to Immilmar. The rest of the day was spent in Immilmar (visiting pubs, baths, making arm wrestling contests, and so on). But there was a tense feeling that the city faces a dark future...The next day, Jasmina proposed to check for the locations of the two dragons, and also find something out about her mother. So she cast Discern Location (we moved the spell to level 9 as a house rule) and learned that the Shadow Dragon and her mother are in the ruins of Citadel Rashemar, while the Aspect is in an ancient ruined manor in the Great Dale. The party decided that it would be easier to attack the Shadow Dragon first, but still, a lot of support would be necessary, especially in magic items. As Citadel Rashemar has long been a source for trouble, and the hathrans have lost some of her members who were scouting in the ruins, the party possibly could make a deal with the hathrans. Jasmina proposed that the party would try to clear the ruins of its monstrous inhabitants and in return the hathrans would provide magical equipment. The party met Lady Myra again and proposed to attack Citadel Rashemar if the hathrans would provide magic items before. The signs of war are imminent, and Lady Myra feared that the monsters in the citadel only wait for a good opportunity to attack eastern Rashemen. So she agreed, and the party gave her list of needed stuff (mainly armor, better weapons, potions, and stat buffing items). Not everything was available, but the group is now able to deal with the Shadow Dragon. Only Jasmina did not make a 'christmas list', because she didn't want to benefit from Rashemen's dire situation and her recent violation of Rashemi law. To better prepare the group for the fight, the alienist contacted again the Net Creature in the Far Realms (see the chapter about the escape from prison). After this was done, he summoned the minds of his friends into an illusionary cave (to spare his friends from the revolting situation in Far Realms - it may cause insanity if one fails a save  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> ) There, he passed again some of his spell energy to his friends, now each person could cast Mirror Image and Gaseous Form once. When he has sent his friends back to the Material Plane, the Net Creature told the alienist why it helped again. The creature knows about the fight and Alanor's death. It also knows how the Aspect of Tiamat was able to find the Shadow Dragon and form an alliance. Tiamat herself passed the information to her Aspect that a Shadow Dragon is imprisoned in a different world. The execution of the dragon is under preparation and it is very likely that the Shadow Dragon could be convinced to become an ally if the Aspect saves the dragon. Then the Net Creature showed the alienist what has happened: The Aspect opened a gate into a prison cell that was made of energy bars. The only prisoner was the Shadow Dragon. The Aspect offered help but also asked for a service - removal of all creatures that threaten to stop the Aspect's plans. The dragon agreed and signed a contract with his own blood (quite similar to the scene in Ghost Rider  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" /> ). But the dragon demanded to be transfered onto his ship, then he'd travel to Toril and start with his work. So it was done...The Net Creature is quite sure that Tiamat violated the 'rules' by giving such crucial informations to mortals. To put things into balance again, the Net Creature simply decided to inform the alienist about what has happened...</blockquote>

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