Despite her warning to the others, the armored enchanter takes the full fury of the draconic flame and sound of sizzling is very loud in her ears even if the others don't hear it.
She grabs a wand from her belt.
The dragon is brought to an abrupt halt by the thorns.
The dragon thrashes its way through the thorns and emerges, bleeding from a few shallow cuts. Its yellow eyes focus on Alwyn and narrow in fury.
The mule collapsing under the flames leaves Illes flailing until he hits the ground in a roll. Undeterred the bard jumps to his feet and begins mocking the dragon, "Ho now! That is not the kind of majestic landing I was expecting from any dragon worthy of the songs or poems of my people. Right now you are looking more like limerick material." As he speaks Illes rubs a twist of gremlin hair on his necklace and infuses his taunt with arcane energy.
"Someone distract it"
I will delay to let Alwyn cast the airwalk on me.
Hudak!
charge if possible over the dead mule in the air to O 19 and put one in the dragon right and proper. 2h power attack (-2 to hit from what I got if I can't charge....)
damage
The dragon's reaches out to bite Hudak as he approaches.
Hudak continues undeterred, hacking into the dragon's forequarters.
I'm at 66 of 100 hp now. Kinda scary place, but if he full attacks me and I survive, his ass is mine.
Camlo scoots under the nose of the dragon and stabs it in a particularly meaty part of its hindquarters.
Sefayll looks at the wand in her hand, considering the likelihood that she might hit the wrong target, and casts mage armor on herself instead.
The dragon attempts to knock Hudak out of the way.
The dragon tries to push Hudak aside but the Shoanti warrior stands firm.
"Whoa." Alwyn can't help but do a double take as the massive beast just bounces off Hudak's shoulder. "That's the biggest - and last - mistake you ever made, lizard."
When you attempt to perform a combat maneuver, make an attack roll and add your CMB in place of your normal attack bonus. Add any bonuses you currently have on attack rolls due to spells, feats, and other effects. These bonuses must be applicable to the weapon or attack used to perform the maneuver.
A creature can also add any circumstance, deflection, dodge, insight, luck, morale, profane, and sacred bonuses to AC to its CMD. Any penalties to a creature's AC also apply to its CMD.
Illes clambers over the smoking mule carcass while egging his companions on to near suicidal heights of bravery. "So how does a dragon come to be the guard dog of a rogue giant anyway? You exceptionally simple minded or just made some bad life decisions?"
Alwyn, close in so I can give you all a little boost!"
Hudak's next. If Heathy's still busy:
Attack 1: 9+21-3(Power Attack)+4(Bard)+1(Haste)+2(flank w/Camlo)=AC 33, damage 1d10+19+9(Power Attack)+4(Bard)=7+32=39.
Attack 2: 11+16-3(Power Attack)+4(Bard)+1(Haste)+2(flank w/Camlo)=AC 31, damage 1d10+19+9(Power Attack)+4(Bard)=5+32=37.
Attack 3 (bonus from Haste): 17!+11-3(Power Attack)+4(Bard)+1(Haste)+2(flank w/Camlo)=AC 32, confirm roll 10+11-3+4+1+2+4(critical focus)=AC 29, damage 1d10+19+9(Power Attack)+4(Bard)=3+32=35x2=70.
Camlo!
Alwyn blasts the wounded dragon with light and it flops down on the path.
"Oh yes. We're whittling down the giant's allies one by one. Who got burned? Gather up around me, and I'll fix us all up. First things first, though..." Alwyn kneels down next to the dragon carcass and digs an incisor out of its jaw. "This'll make a grand amulet."
"Too bad about the mules, though. Carrying our stuff up this stair won't be fun."
While Alwyn is cutting the head off: "Could I err, have a tooth maybe? If it's no trouble to get it out. A memento of sorts..."
Alwyn knocks a tooth from the dragon's jaws before he consigns its carcass to the base of the cliff. Then, now without the mules, the adventurers continue their hike up the side of the mountain.
Sefayll talks to Illes as Alwyn deals with the draconic corpse. "It was already attacking. Dragons are strong-willed creatures. But I still considered trying to ensnare its mind. Do you think it would have worked?"
"Most probably not." Alwyn briefly looks up from his grim work. "But even the tiniest chance of the spell working made it worth it. Imagine, a dragon ally! You clearly had the right idea."
The path zig-zags up the side of the cwm until it reaches the top. At the crest of the ridge, the wind is blowing hard enough to make the eyes water. But the view is impressive. Immediately north-west along the ridge towers the summit of Garlbaar, and in the opposite direction looms another, lower peak. Stretching away north, on the far side of the saddle, is the expanse of the Iron Mountains. Brutal, snow-streaked mountain-tops stab at the sky, separated by deep rocky valleys. The rivers in their depths are largely invisible at this height. This is the heart of the range, a land as unyielding as the giants that inhabit it.
Below, a glacier carves a path from beneath Garlbaar's peak. The path crosses the saddle and begins to descend again into this valley.
"The slopes we have come up are where most of the rain falls. Ahead of us, there's less rain, so there will be less vegetation to find cover in. I'm sure it has an affect on the available game, too."
The adventurers pick their way down the steps on the other side of the ridge. The wind is harsh, driving icy blasts that chill to the bone, and the sky has clouded over to a grim iron-grey - perhaps an ill omen as the heroes head closer to Mokmurian's domain. At the bottom of the cliff, the steps finish in a jumble of boulders - debris from the glacier dumped there in the centuries since the steps were built. The moraine blocks the path left and right. The way on is to clamber over the boulders along the side of the glacier as it descends the valley - which could be extremely time-consuming - or climb on the glacier itself and walk down that, risking the crevasses.
Looking around at the options, "I can only provide flight for two of us."
"Mule feed, my leather armour, most of the firewood... It stays here. Cooking fires only from now on - I'll keep us warm through magic."
"I don't like the look of that ice."
"It's a lose-lose situation. The glacier is quicker, but extremely dangerous, while the bouldery moraine is safe, but excruciatingly slow."
"Let's try the boulders first. I can Air walk all of us for about two hours each tomorrow; until then, we'll be doing this the hard way."
"I am limited in how many I can grant flight to, unfortunately. Perhaps some facility in climbing will help. Regardless, the slower path seems the better choice unless we can fly over the barriers."