Manisha will be taking the AC defense from the BoF.
Manisha stays out of range of the dragon and begins casting summon monster VII
Lefty will stay back and cast Disintegrate (DC 31), since our warriors aren't doing so well this round.
Then, he'll move 30.
21+7+8=36 total.
As both blade and spell have slammed into it, the massive undead dragon roars in defiance, then lays into Both Hiram and Baergar with it's natural weapons. Hiram will get the bite and the first wing, and Baergar will get the claws and the second wing.
A disgruntled Lorelei watches as Lefty's powerful Disintegrate barely phases the beast. With a light sigh, Star quickly moves herself closer to the frontlines, phasing in and out of the dark cavern's shadows as she flies. She abruptly stops about a good thirty feet away from her foe, and in utter silence, her arms work their way out of her cloak of darkness, and the Oracle begins to grab at the air as if trying to grasp invisible threads.
Reality hiccups.
Time itself twists, slows, quickens, and turns as Lorelei weaves it into a compact sphere of swirling grey. It seems to take an eternity for her to complete her task, but in actuality, everything is said and done in a mere three seconds. Lorelei's mythic magic dances about in her tiny hands, and she looks at it with a content grin.
Star giggles. Star chuckles. Star laughs. Star crackles with absolute glee.
She then lobs her spell straight at the undead dragon, which crashes onto the beast with little trouble. Even a fool knows that the magic of the Great Old Ones is easily on par with that of the Whispering Tyrant. Time itself quickly starts to catch up with the beast as its bones begin to crack and crumble under the force of an entity far greater than it.
Edit: It is.
To affect a creature that has spell resistance, a spellcaster must make a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) at least equal to the creature's spell resistance. The defender's spell resistance is like an Armor Class against magical attacks. If the caster fails the check, the spell doesn't affect the creature. The possessor does not have to do anything special to use spell resistance. The creature need not even be aware of the threat for its spell resistance to operate.
As Star's spell and Hiram's blade land, the Ravener gives one last roar, staggers and falls, then crumbles into dust; it's entire body, that is, except for one of his smaller leg bones, which falls to the ground with a dull *thump*. Taking a closer look, you notice that it is covered in dozens of tiny runes, invisible at a distance of even two feet. This bone, which is about the size of a quarterstaff for a medium-sized creature, has a good amount of heft to it. Well balanced, it would make a decent weapon for any monk.
The bone is sufficiently curious for Manesha to cast detect magic, yet she stays a distance from the bone as she doesn't trust anything she didn't bring with her.
Lefty combs his memory for any mention of such relics in lore.
You know, once we get this all sorted out, we should all head to my place for some vodka martinis.
After a devastating one-two combo from herself and Hiram utterly obliterates the dracolich, Lorelei focuses her arcane sight on its remains.
As she studies it, the Oracle comments, "Anyone need healing? Those hits looked painful."
Baergar quaffs a potion then wipes the back of his hand across his whiskered mouth.
"I'll be fine. Thank you for asking."
"Hmm, I can feel ribs grinding together, some assistance may be required."
Lorelei nods at her ally's quest and flies her tiny self over to Hiram's position. Once there, she quickly belts the much larger fighter with wave after wave of positive energy. Despite Gallowspire's hampering effects on her magic, she ultimately manages to fix up the wounds.
as Star watches the bone "staff" via her arcane sight, she sees that it's aura fluctuates. This is, of course, the typical aura of an artifact.
"...The bone is an artifact," Star says to the rest of the group after some more careful study. "Its magic auras fluctuates like one."
With that said, Lorelei begins to carefully inspect and search the rest of the room.
"I would not mess with it right now," Hiram notes worried about possible complication from that thing. "Unless we know what it is."
Using her still on-going Telepathy spell, Star tells her allies everything she finds.
"Going to scout ahead," the small Oracle adds as she activates her Ring of Invisibility. Before she ventures down the stairway, she throws a couple of spells on herself.
As you descend down the stairs, you notice two things: one, the temperature drops considerably, and two, you pass through another ward, this time much stronger than the previous one.
[ooc]As far as the wards go, you know the following, especially given what information the others have shared with you:
It seems that the protective wards around Gallowspire are tiered, instead of having a single ward. They are the creation of deity level magic, but the last two wards that you have gone through have been corrupted by something powerful (most likely Tar-Baphon). It seems that he has been slowly changing them to suit his needs.
Lefty knows that the staff itself is not an artifact, but the runes on it are part of one, particularly an epic on the nature of magic called The Ballad of Creation. This ballad, which normally is only spoken, reportedly has massive powers related to using, changing, and creating magic. The runes here appear to be focused on protecting against magic.
Not bothered by the ward, Star presses forward.
The party hears Lorelei's voice echo in their heads.
"There's another ward down here. Drained my life force. Pressing forward. Seems Tar-Baphon is altering the wards. What for? His own purposes I guess."
"I can heal you later, sweetie," Rose reminds her owner. "Granted, if this is going to keep happening, you should probably turn around."
Star only grumbles to herself.
Lefty will take the staff. His CL checks are pretty good, even at half.
Manisha assumes a lotus position, four feet off the floor, and waits.