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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dark Dragon" data-source="post: 4017432" data-attributes="member: 1115">Pyrrhic victory...and a change of plans (?) Input needed !The party retreated because of strong depletion of spell casting energy. In addition, the group assumed that the strongest foe, the shadow dragon, is dead and the rest of the troops (along with their leader) within the citadel could be handled later.The adventurers returned to the cave and had an undisturbed night. During this night, Chaul, the durthan ruling the citadel, tried to find out more about the party. Scrying attempts failed because the party rested within a Private Sanctum. However, Speak with Dead and Raise Dead gave more informations. As the adventurers seemed to be very strong and obviously have a hathran (Jasmina) with them, Chaul decided to save their troops (she already had lost most of her commanders and wartrolls and was not willing to sacrifice her standard tropos consisting of humans, orcs, and some giants in a hopeless battle). Instead, she wants to stop the group herself, and her servant, a wizard called Samara, should play an important role. Samara was ordered to control Jasmina's captured mother (also a hathran) via Magic Jar. Several Alarm spells and a few troops should warn Chaul of any intruders and give her time to prepare herself for the fight. In addition, she moved her troops with a Teleportation Circle to a new location...The next morning, the party entered the citadel again, encountering almost no resistance. Only two wartrolls and a half-drow sorcerer were send to stop the group. The three fought well but their fate was sealed. Then the group met Chaul and her guards, three elite wartrolls, an iron golem, two destrachans, and Jasminas mother. Samara stayed out of sight of the group. A hard battle was fought, Chaul made good use of a prepared terrain (small tunnels leading into a large room with a big concealed shaft, and enchanted with a Forbiddance). The party had some difficulties to get into the room, the paladin and the warlock were hammered with spells and melee weapons and thus were quickly disabled. But the warmage/dragon disciple, the bodyguard, and Arulantras fought quite well, the alienist heavily damaged the golem with Acid Orbs. Estanala (forced into humanoid form because there was not enough space for her as a huge dragon), Jasmina and the ranger were busy to heal and support their friends. Arulantras nearly aged the dominated hathran to death, but he was almost killed by a wartroll after a critical hit (he was bleeding to death), the paladin who had been healed in time by Jasmina saved the dragon's life. With all her guards dead and her own spell energy already low, Chaul retreated via Gate, and Samara returned to her own body and teleported to safety as well. The adventurers searched the area but didn't find anything. They returned to the cave again and questioned Jasmina's mother. The aging caused by Arulantras was undone by Jasmina with a Greater Restoration. The group learned not much except that Chaul had assembled an army to attack either Rashemen or the hathran's conclave.-----------------How to go on? The situation:1) With Antaran's early death and rising as a ghost (the party does not know this yet), at least Chaul is probably forced to do her next move. On the other hand, she may assume that the party will not hunt her anymore because the group has succeeded in cleaning the ruins of Citadel Rashemar and freeing Jasmina'a mother. This would give her time to replenish her forces, learn more about her foes, and strike when time and place are right. She will never ally with the Red Wizards because she is still a proud Rashemi and willing to defend the land at all costs (even if that calls for sacrifying other Rashemi).2) The party and the hathrans in Immilmar assume that an attack on the city by the Red Wizards and their Cloud Ray golem will take place within the next few days, if not hours. However, the hathrans have to elect a new Iorn Lord who will lead the troops in the coming war, and the witches gather in the city for the election.3) Arulantras assumes that Antaran is dead and sees his job done on Toril. He does not know much about divine magic and that the dead may return as ghosts. However, he is unable to contact his crew on his star ship, and thus fears that something has gone wrong completely. The ship was captured by Antaran's crew, and the original crew members were either killed or disabled. The time dragon has traveled from his star ship to Toril with a smaller ship (fighter class), but it is unable to attack and survive a battle with one of the bigger ships. It also lacks the engines to travel back to Maginellic or even transmit a report. However, it is permanently protected from long-range sensor scans and thus was not detected by Antaran's crew. The law of the time dragons home world forbids any interference with the political and/or technological situation on other, less developed worlds (aka Prime Directive  <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=";)" /> ), so Arulantras is not allowed to use the fighter ship to help Rashemen against the Cloud Ray, nor shouldn't he work for other parties in a way that gives it some sort of advantage (unless the job provides no alternative). This puts him in a difficult situation: As a paladin he is bound by his honor to the guys who helped him in finding Antaran, saved his life, and freed him from imprisonment, but then he has to follow the 'rules of his home world'.How would you play a paladin in this situation?  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f615.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":confused:" title="Confused    :confused:"  data-smilie="5"data-shortname=":confused:" /> 4) The Aspect of Tiamat has assembled her troops, but still she has not the half-dragon baby within her grasp. As the party has escaped to Rashemen and disabled temporarily her strongest ally the shadow dragon, she assumes that the baby must be there. She also learned that the hathrans gather in Immilmar for a conclave and correctly assumes that the rest of the country is weakened in its defensive options. She has now three strong attack units lead by powerful half-dragons. She is thinking about a hit-and-run tactic: attacking important towns in Rashemen, search for the baby, and destroy as much as possible before retreat via Gate. When the hathrans try to find and disable the attackers, all her troops will be send to Immilmar with the order to find the baby and ransack the city. 5) The Red Wizard attack party will strike at Immilmar probably the same day when the party battled Chaul. If I let the Red Wizards attack the city by using the Cloud Ray half-golem, it will leave the city burning and devastated, but not conquered. Remember that the half-golem is immune to most kinds of magic, and a Forbiddance denies teleportation on top of the creature. Long-range attack spells are only a few, and the massive body of the cloud ray protects the crew from direct ground attacks. However, the two Thayan bombards on the back of the half-golem can nicely fire into the city, just as modern artillery can do. Any flying opposition will be either dealt with the cloud ray, archers and the spellcasters, or four demonic creatures. The crew of the cloud ray 'ship' is too weak to conquer the city, so the Red Wizards will try to obliterate it.  6) Antaran will soon return as a ghost dragon and will try to kill Arulantras and his allies. He also knows that he could now kill the Aspect of Tiamat with his aging breath. The contract with the Aspect raised him as a ghost, but the Aspect has lost control over the mind of the now undead shadow dragon, something the Aspect has not considered...But Antaran has time, and he thinks carefully about how to carve his own empire out of the situation...Ok, I think these are the options. It's quite a mess, and I'm not sure how to proceed.I consider two story lines:a) The destruction of Immilmar and defeat of Rashemen. This makes it easy for the Aspect to find the half-dragon baby, therby she reaches her goal. The adventurers have to fight against a powerful ghost dragon and find a way to undo what has happened. Here Arulantras may help with his star ship that is also a time machine (see above). The group must decide about how and where to interfere to effectively stop their enemies' plans...And they must convince or overwhelm the time dragon to use the time machine...b) The party stops the attack on Immilmar or kills the Aspect of Tiamat. Again, this needs convincing Arulantras (he may serve as a flying steed), and strong support. The only other powerful spellcaster, except for three hathrans, is the durthan Chaul. She is willing to fight the Red Wizards, but it would need tough negotiations to convince her to fight side by side with hathrans and paladins (and vice versa). She would not help in fighting the Aspect, and the hathrans would not leave their country to fight the Aspect as well. So the party has to find other means to locate the Aspect. A good way is to attack her troops and 'question' one of the leaders. A well prepared ambush employing Antaran's futuristic equipment will likely result in a hard-won battle. As Arulantras accepts the laws and traditions of Toril, he has not demanded the equipment of the shadow dragon (despite being a bit puzzled about looting a dead foe, something that is seen as 'not normal' on Maginellic). Well, many words... Again, I am thankful for any helpful comments, ideas, etc.!</blockquote>

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