”Amiri” | Female CN Medium Human Barbarian 4 | HP 1/45 | AC 18, T 12, FF 16 | CMD 20| F +6 R +3 W +2,+2 vs. fear; +1 vs. traps | Init +2 | Perc +8 | Speed 40ft | Rage 9/12 | Power attack -2/+6 | Active Conditions:None
Amiri's eyes flicker open. there was a bright light, and my Grandmother was there.
She seems to remember where she is suddenly and springs to her feet, sword in hand.
Amiri, I think your rage ended when you fell unconscious, so you should be fatigued. How long were you raging?
Two-Blades stabs the dark slayer, but no one else's attacks manage to hit.
The dark slayer is still stunned, groaning in pain and rubbing its eyes frantically.
The dragon moves forward, still hovering, and attacks Prisim and Two-blades in a furious whirl of claws and wings. The gnome is seized by the dragon's jaws and ripped into by razor claws. Prisim has shown herself to be a significant threat so he's focusing on her until she's down. She is hit with a bite and two claws, for a total of 46 damage, which I think leaves her unconscious. Two-blades manages to duck a buffeting wing, but the other gives him a crunching, bone-bruising blow. Two-blades gets struck by a single wing for 7 damage.
”Amiri” | Female CN Medium Human Barbarian 4 | HP 1/45 | AC 18, T 12, FF 16 | CMD 20| F +6 R +3 W +2,+2 vs. fear; +1 vs. traps | Init +2 | Perc +8 | Speed 40ft | Rage 9/12 | Power attack -2/+6 | Active Conditions:None
You are correct. I raged for 1 round. I charged the dark folk, raged and got dropped.
Male Human (Shoanti) AC22(24) Haste AC 25/T16/FF22 F+8/R+13(14)/W+7 57/57 init +8/Per +12 Rogue 7/Cleric 1 Move 50'Active effects haste, heroism, and inspiring courage.
Not sure why that roll happened. It should be d6+1 and then the d6 for the sneak attack. As it was, the second die rolled a 1 so the 7 total damage is correct.
Feeling the impact of the dragon's wing and seeing Amiri back on her feet, Two Blades continued to attack the stunned foe.
”Amiri” | Female CN Medium Human Barbarian 4 | HP 1/45 | AC 18, T 12, FF 16 | CMD 20| F +6 R +3 W +2,+2 vs. fear; +1 vs. traps | Init +2 | Perc +8 | Speed 40ft | Rage 9/12 | Power attack -2/+6 | Active Conditions:None
Took me ages t work it out, but Apollyanna was so familiar to me. Turns out I played a series with her.
”Amiri” | Female CN Medium Human Barbarian 4 | HP 1/45 | AC 18, T 12, FF 16 | CMD 20| F +6 R +3 W +2,+2 vs. fear; +1 vs. traps | Init +2 | Perc +8 | Speed 40ft | Rage 9/12 | Power attack -2/+6 | Active Conditions:None
Amiri takes a 5 foot step, grinning as she lines up a shot at the dark folk.
”Seoni” | Female LN Medium Human Sorcerer 4 | HP 16/26 | AC 19, T 14, FF 16 | CMD 16| F +2 R +3 W +5; +2 vs fear | Init +2 | Perc: +3, SM: +4 | Speed 30ft | Spells: 1st 6/7, 2nd 4/4 | Active Conditions: mage armor.
Seoni takes out another potion of cure lt wounds and drinks it pod of cure lt:1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Amiri swings her massive sword and cuts the dark slayer completely in half.
"Damn you, human! Now I must send another messenger to the darklands!" the dragon bellows.
Skeshnil snakes out his long neck to bite Daeron. He then slashes across Two-Blades's face, and flaps forward to claw Amiri.
Attack of 22 vs. Daeron for 14 damage, using his bite attack with a reach of 10 ft. Attack of 28 vs. Two-Blades for 12 damage. Attack of 22 vs. Amiri for 8 damage. If I'm not mistaken that puts all of them unconscious.
Seoni, I believe you're still invisible. What do you want to do?
I would have told Seoni about the Dimension Door scroll in my pack when I tried to tell her to use it. It's up to you GM if you allow her to try to retrieve it and save some of us.
The dragon was in the position marked on the map with the red square when it was attacking Daeron. More than half of Daeron's square would have been visible, so if he had cover it would have been only partial cover, which gives +2. That would still hit.
”Seoni” | Female LN Medium Human Sorcerer 4 | HP 16/26 | AC 19, T 14, FF 16 | CMD 16| F +2 R +3 W +5; +2 vs fear | Init +2 | Perc: +3, SM: +4 | Speed 30ft | Spells: 1st 6/7, 2nd 4/4 | Active Conditions: mage armor.
Knowing her magic is all but useless, Seoni slinks away a tear in her eye at the loss of her brothers and Sisters at arms. As she reaches the mouth of the complex a grim determination sets in. The Pathfinders will be back to take vengeance for their fallen Dragon! she thinks to herself.
Seoni makes no attempt to recover any scroll or save her companions, the dragon is just too powerful. For all intents and purpose, I am done with this adventure.
”Seoni” | Female LN Medium Human Sorcerer 4 | HP 16/26 | AC 19, T 14, FF 16 | CMD 16| F +2 R +3 W +5; +2 vs fear | Init +2 | Perc: +3, SM: +4 | Speed 30ft | Spells: 1st 6/7, 2nd 4/4 | Active Conditions: mage armor.
Daeron Woodblood wrote:
Ok, I missread the map, I believed that the dragon couldn't full attack Daeron with a 5ft. step.
The difficulty of PbP.
nor is the GM inclined to rule in your favor I got no cover bonus for being on the stairs when the first breath weapon hit the extra +2 would have had me made the save and I wouldn’t have been out of the battle for the first 3-4 rounds...that’s why I’m just calling it quits... sorry everyone but I don’t think this Could go any other way but another body on the floor. BTW GM if you decide to go in to hunter killer mode be aware, it takes a move action to try and even spot the general location of someone or something invisible, ( ie. no full attacks) the dragon must have reason to believe I’m there. I also have acid resistance cast on me from Prism early . If you insist on playing this out for your precious TPK , I’ll ask a VO officer to oversee the game as I believe every option you’ve taken in this fight has been optimal for the Dragon and the dark slayer. Or you could just accept a Seoni gets away a leave it at that.
having said all that, I will say thank you to the GM, and go on the record as saying I don’t think he cheated in anyway. Dragons are tough. But, I will state you played this creature as if it were us angainst you instead of a story device.
@Seoni/lucklesshero all Dragons have blindsense 60 ft.
Anyway you're right, Dragon are tough, this one above all other. With a team of non fully optimized CORE character we stand no chance against it without some luck (which none of us had).
The dragon might sense that you're there but wouldn't be able to follow you effectively, especially since there are two different paths you could take to the exit.
”Seoni” | Female LN Medium Human Sorcerer 4 | HP 16/26 | AC 19, T 14, FF 16 | CMD 16| F +2 R +3 W +5; +2 vs fear | Init +2 | Perc: +3, SM: +4 | Speed 30ft | Spells: 1st 6/7, 2nd 4/4 | Active Conditions: mage armor.
fair enough Seoni escapes with life. And little else. Thank you for running the game, it was tough run ... but then again this scenario is famous for that
The fallen go unconscious, fully expecting to not wake up in this life. However, hours later they come to in a haze of pain, finding their arms and legs bound and water being dripped into their mouths. It is completely dark, but those with darkvision can see that they are in one of the tunnels of the ruin, this one with ancient beds, like an abandoned barracks. The little shadow drakes and two different dark folk are running about, making sure all of you are healed enough to survive, and be questioned, but not enough to pose any kind of threat.
Soon the dragon arrives and questions each of you, sooner or later getting the full story, finding out about the holy ritual you found evidence for, and the reason you were looking for the sword of the ancient samurai. "So this ritual is one of the wards keeping the Whispering Tyrant from this world? The possibility of his return doesn't concern me. It would cause great misery and terrible nightmares among the mortals of this world."
After questioning you, Skeshnil spends an interminable time tormenting you, mostly by invading your nightmares whenever he can. Shadow drakes and dark folk give you water and feed you flavorless gruel from the sustaining bowl in the ancient dining room, just to keep you alive for the dragon to toy with. One day, or night -- not that you can tell -- you hear the sounds of shouts, clashing of metal, roars, and chanted arcane spells. Shortly thereafter, a group of Pathfinders enters your prison and releases you, healing you and helping you recover your lost gear. You explain the ritual that you discovered when you initially explored this ruin, and Seelah, the paladin who led the expedition, performs it to restore the ancient ward.
Returning to civilzation, you find that your estimation in the eyes of your peers is slightly lessened due to the necessity of the rescue, but you are still given credit for what you discovered, and allowed the treasure you found before the dragon, though the dragon's hoard is split among the rescue party.
Seoni only:
You hurry back to the closest city with a pathfinder lodge, and report the events. Soon, plans are made to send another group of agents, forewarned and prepared to face the dragon, with the hopes of recovering the bodies, or perhaps, any survivors, as well as completing the purpose for which you were originally sent. After they set off and return, you find out that the original team all survived as captives of the dragon, and were rescued after the second team slew him. You are seen as making the pragmatic choice of returning to report. Without your prompt reporting of the fall of the others, a second team would not have been sent so soon, and it might not have arrived in time to rescue them.
Alright, everyone except Seoni will need to spend the 5PP for a body recovery. I'll note it on the chronicle. It may make it a little easier to note that you did in fact achieve the primary success conditions, which were determining that a holy ritual had happened at the site. So you all get 1 PP for that, which can be used as part of the 5PP if needed. The secondary conditions were performing the ritual to repair the ward, which you couldn't do without the samurai's sword, which was in the dragon's hoard.
If anyone decides to not continue their character, you can decline to pay the PP cost and just let the character be marked dead (i.e. succumbed to malnutrition and mistreatment before rescue arrived), but I figure that's probably not what anyone wants to do.
Finally, I just want to say this about the difficulty of this game. I tried to hit the right balance between having the dragon be an effective combatant and a threat that had to be seriously dealt with, and not going overboard with deadliness. I apologize to the extent that it feels like I went too far in one direction. Killing PCs is not something I seek or desire, and I don't regard a TPK -- or a TPD ("total party defeat") in this case, I suppose -- as any kind of accomplishment.
Thank you all for playing with me. I'll update the chronicles to reflect the appropriate rewards, and post them within 24 hours.
