Ironperenti's Rise of the Runelords Campaign

Game Master Ironperenti

Kizzy dives into the water. Her hasted movements gets her to Forest in short order and she floods him with healing magics. Forest's eyes pop open, not that Kizzy can see them. Forest finds himself under water with his last memory of being clawed by the dragon. The water is dark but Forest's initial panic at being underwater subsides as he realizes he can breathe.

The air elemental's attacks do not seem to affect the dragon but the thing does get the dragon's attention.

Round 6
Abadius 16th, Mid winter, Sundown 1730
1030 , temperature 44, wind 1-3 mph
Group Effects: resist energy 20pts acid 247rds; battle cry 6rds; haste 6rds; water breathing 5 hours each
Forest 24/116; clayskin 25/50, fly 106rds,
Dragon -130 seriously injured; mage armor, flying
Runt 96/96; magic vestment, enchantment foil, false life 7, divine power 5rds, heroism 1099rds
Air elemental 104/104
Isabella 69/69; heroism 1100rds, shield of faith 108rds, divine favor 10rds<<<
Kizzy 49/78;
Yap uninjured; invisible<<<

Forest 24/116; clayskin 25/50, fly 106rds

Keep in mind that the healing also restores 1 point of NL for every point of lethal so the NL should be gone and he should be at 49 HP. Unless you were tracking that separately.

Isabella keeps doing prep and casts divine power.

I didn't hit him with any non-lethal. The fall was cushioned by the water. What NL are you speaking of?

Sorry, I was confusing ablative barrier with clay skin

@Isabella: alas, the bonuses for Divine Favor and Divine Power do not stack; both luck bonuses. If you want to change one spell or the other that is fine by me.

Round 7
Abadius 16th, Mid winter, Sundown 1730
1030 , temperature 44, wind 1-3 mph
Group Effects: resist energy 20pts acid 246rds; battle cry 5rds; haste 5rds; water breathing 5 hours each
Forest 24/116; clayskin 25/50, fly 105rds<<<
Dragon -130 seriously injured; mage armor, flying
Runt 96/96; magic vestment, enchantment foil, false life 7, divine power 4rds, heroism 1098rds
Air elemental 104/104
Isabella 69/69; heroism 1099rds, shield of faith 107rds, divine favor 9rds, divine power 10rds
Kizzy 49/78;
Yap uninjured; invisible

@Isabella: alas, the bonuses for Divine Favor and Divine Power do not stack; both luck bonuses. If you want to change one spell or the other that is fine by me.

But it does give me 10 temp hp and a bonus attack each round when I make a full attack.

Exactly, I thought you would want to change Divine Favor and keep Divine Power. Or you could assume you casted (that sounds weird) Divine Power instead of Divine Favor and take a different action instead of casting.

Oh, I see what you mean. Well, next in the queue is angelic aspect, so that I can fly up and get killed again.

I'll replace divine favor with that and you will be ready to roll after the dragon goes.

Round 7
Abadius 16th, Mid winter, Sundown 1730
1030 , temperature 44, wind 1-3 mph
Group Effects: resist energy 20pts acid 246rds; battle cry 5rds; haste 5rds; water breathing 5 hours each
Forest 24/116; clayskin 25/50, fly 105rds<<<
Dragon -130 seriously injured; mage armor, flying
Runt 96/96; magic vestment, enchantment foil, false life 7, divine power 4rds, heroism 1098rds
Air elemental 104/104
Isabella 69/69; heroism 1099rds, shield of faith 107rds, angelic aspect 99rds, divine power 10rds
Kizzy 49/78;
Yap uninjured; invisible

Forest?

Forest, though newly awake, is hyped up on adrenaline. He flies up out of the water, gets his bearings and sheaths his sword as he readies his bow.

@Runt: although the air elemental is not big enough in whirlwind form to suck the dragon up, it would still give the dragon -8 on fly checks. This could potentially hinder its maneuverability and/or force it to land. If you want to take back the attacks and stay in whirlwind form you may.

Round 7
Abadius 16th, Mid winter, Sundown 1730
1030 , temperature 44, wind 1-3 mph
Group Effects: resist energy 20pts acid 246rds; battle cry 5rds; haste 5rds; water breathing 5 hours each
Forest 24/116; clayskin 25/50, fly 105rds
Dragon -130 seriously injured; mage armor, flying<<<
Runt 96/96; magic vestment, enchantment foil, false life 7, divine power 4rds, heroism 1098rds
Air elemental 104/104
Isabella 69/69; heroism 1099rds, shield of faith 107rds, angelic aspect 99rds, divine power 10rds
Kizzy 49/78;
Yap uninjured; invisible

I'll go for that! The elemental's ability to hit sucks, so it will just follow the dragon around and hinder its flying.

The dragon snaps at the elemental (dmg 29) and then flies away from the thing to stay airborne (elemental gets an AOO). It then flies in a big arc to start coming back around to the group.

Round 7
Abadius 16th, Mid winter, Sundown 1730
1030 , temperature 44, wind 1-3 mph
Group Effects: resist energy 20pts acid 246rds; battle cry 5rds; haste 5rds; water breathing 5 hours each
Forest 24/116; clayskin 25/50, fly 105rds
Dragon -130 seriously injured; mage armor, flying
Runt 96/96; magic vestment, enchantment foil, false life 7, divine power 4rds, heroism 1098rds<<<
Air elemental 75/104<<<
Isabella 69/69; heroism 1099rds, shield of faith 107rds, angelic aspect 99rds, divine power 10rds<<<
Kizzy 49/78;<<<
Yap uninjured; invisible

The elemental is in whirlwind form and does not get an AoO. Specifically "A creature in whirlwind form cannot make its normal attacks and does not threaten the area around it." All it gets is its DC 18 attempt to capture a creature and it does it's slam damage to it if it fails the DC (as well as other hindrances).

Roger, still, you guys are up.

Feeling Forest move up and out of the water, Kizzy will follow to the surface. Realizing the dragon is probably going to make some attack as it passes, Kizzy will ready an action to dive as the dragon begins its attack run.

@Runt: although the air elemental is not big enough in whirlwind form to suck the dragon up, it would still give the dragon -8 on fly checks. This could potentially hinder its maneuverability and/or force it to land. If you want to take back the attacks and stay in whirlwind form you may.

Note: I reread the description and it seems the wirlwind form should be 40' high, 20' wide at the top, 5' high at the bottom. I think it should be able to capture the dragon as per the normal rules and should only require you make the DC 18 reflex save and not have to make flying checks to move if not captured. I'm OK with sticking with your ruling above, but I don't think it is necessary.

I only had time to do a non-combat post. Now that my sick wife is in bed, I can sally forth!

Runt sends out three bolts at the evasive dragon.

to hit repeating heavy crossbow, divine power, inspire, bane, heroism: 1d20 + 10 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 10 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 32
damage piercing, divine power, inspire, bane: 1d8 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (5) + 2 + 4 + 2 + 2 + (4, 6) = 25

free attack from divine power:

to hit repeating heavy crossbow, divine power, inspire, bane, heroism, combat stamima: 1d20 + 10 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 10 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 = 39
damage piercing, divine power, inspire, bane: 1d8 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (5) + 2 + 4 + 2 + 2 + (6, 5) = 26

to hit repeating heavy crossbow, divine power, inspire, bane, heroism, combat stamina, map, combat stamima: 1d20 + 10 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 - 5 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 10 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 - 5 + 4 = 39
damage piercing, divine power, inspire, bane: 1d8 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (5) + 2 + 4 + 2 + 2 + (3, 1) = 19

Runt puts three bolts deep into the dragon.

Round 7
Abadius 16th, Mid winter, Sundown 1730
1030 , temperature 44, wind 1-3 mph
Group Effects: resist energy 20pts acid 246rds; battle cry 5rds; haste 5rds; water breathing 5 hours each
Forest 24/116; clayskin 25/50, fly 105rds
Dragon -200 seriously injured; mage armor, flying
Runt 96/96; magic vestment, enchantment foil, false life 7, divine power 4rds, heroism 1098rds
Air elemental 75/104<<<
Isabella 69/69; heroism 1099rds, shield of faith 107rds, angelic aspect 99rds, divine power 10rds<<<
Kizzy 49/78;
Yap uninjured; invisible

Correction, forgot about the Dragon's mage armor. The first bolt skipped off the mage armor. The dragon gets those 25 back.

Round 7
Abadius 16th, Mid winter, Sundown 1730
1030 , temperature 44, wind 1-3 mph
Group Effects: resist energy 20pts acid 246rds; battle cry 5rds; haste 5rds; water breathing 5 hours each
Forest 24/116; clayskin 25/50, fly 105rds
Dragon -175 seriously injured; mage armor, flying
Runt 96/96; magic vestment, enchantment foil, false life 7, divine power 4rds, heroism 1098rds
Air elemental 75/104
Isabella 69/69; heroism 1099rds, shield of faith 107rds, angelic aspect 99rds, divine power 10rds<<<
Kizzy 49/78;
Yap uninjured; invisible

Isabella, I'm tracking you are up.

Isabella takes to the air, preparing herself to get savagely mauled as she did last time she tried this.

Range to el dragono? Can I reach him and strike or do I just need to close?

The dragon is 40' high. For future reference, I put a number on the wing icon to represent the number of squares up a creature is flying. I will add a dot to get a second digit next to it if necessary. Looks like a fly speed of 30' so you could charge and attack or just move closer this round.

Isabella, are you charging or just closing distance?

Just closing, I think. Dragon is probably faster than I, so at an aerial disadvantage there.

Isabella flies into the air to get level with the beast but stays far enough away to avoid a full onslaught of teeth and claw.

Round 8
Abadius 16th, Mid winter, Sundown 1730
1030 , temperature 44, wind 1-3 mph
Group Effects: resist energy 20pts acid 245rds; battle cry 4rds; haste 4rds; water breathing 5 hours each
Forest 24/116; clayskin 25/50, fly 105rds<<<
Dragon -175 seriously injured; mage armor, flying
Runt 96/96; magic vestment, enchantment foil, false life 7, divine power 3rds, heroism 1097rds
Air elemental 75/104
Isabella 69/69; heroism 1098rds, shield of faith 106rds, angelic aspect 98rds, divine power 9rds
Kizzy 49/78;
Yap uninjured; invisible

Forest is less accurate with a bow than with a sword, and the dragon is very slippery despite it's size. He flies up, drawing his longsword, preparing to swoop down on the dragon like a mighty hawk or clever owl.

Forest will fly straight up with one action and draw his sword with the other.

The dragon makes a relatively tight circle and comes down near Runt biting with monstrous force (dmg 41-7 false life - 10 divine power).

Round 8
Abadius 16th, Mid winter, Sundown 1730
1030 , temperature 44, wind 1-3 mph
Group Effects: resist energy 20pts acid 245rds; battle cry 4rds; haste 4rds; water breathing 5 hours each
Forest 24/116; clayskin 25/50, fly 105rds
Dragon -175 seriously injured; mage armor
Runt 72/96; magic vestment, enchantment foil, divine power 3rds, heroism 1097rds<<<
Air elemental 75/104<<<
Isabella 69/69; heroism 1098rds, shield of faith 106rds, angelic aspect 98rds, divine power 9rds<<<
Kizzy 49/78;<<<
Yap uninjured; invisible<<<

Fly: 1d20 ⇒ 4

Isabella tries to cut the angle and close in with the dragon but winds up unable to maneuver.

"Ha! I was feeling ignored, thanks for popping on by."

Seeing a flanking opportunity, the air elemental abandons it wind form for now and flanks with Runt. With 100' of movement it should be able to do this without drawing and AoO.

Runt drops her crossbow and pulls her falchion and takes a swing once the elemental is in place.

to hit slam, outflank: 1d20 + 14 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 14 + 4 = 28 Ignore this attack if changing form is a standard action. Not that it matters with that roll.
damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

to hit falchion, divine power, inspire, bane, heroism, outflank: 1d20 + 13 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 13 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 = 30
damage slashing, cold iron, divine power, inspire, bane: 1d6 + 11 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (2) + 11 + 4 + 2 + 2 + (2, 6) = 29;

Well, not good enough I'm thinking.

"Dang, you are tough to hit!"

I just had you fly straight up so going down shouldn't be an issue and then a 45 degree angle to move toward the dragon.

Runt takes a mighty swing that is deflected by the mage armor surrounding the dragon. She even manages some snappy banter to draw the monster's ire.

Round 8
Abadius 16th, Mid winter, Sundown 1730
1030 , temperature 44, wind 1-3 mph
Group Effects: resist energy 20pts acid 245rds; battle cry 4rds; haste 4rds; water breathing 5 hours each
Forest 24/116; clayskin 25/50, fly 105rds
Dragon -175 seriously injured; mage armor
Runt 72/96; magic vestment, enchantment foil, divine power 3rds, heroism 1097rds
Air elemental 75/104
Isabella 69/69; heroism 1098rds, shield of faith 106rds, angelic aspect 98rds, divine power 9rds<<<
Kizzy 49/78;<<<
Yap uninjured; invisible

Isabella decides that if she can't close with the dragon, she can at least try to make things easier for the rest of the team. She still does her best to move closer on angelic wings, though that doesn't get her very far.

Targeted dispel magic caster level check: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25

Hopefully this nukes its mage armor.

Don't forget you have hasted speed so you are 30' per move action faster. But nice dispel.

The translucent field around the dragon winks out.

Round 8
Abadius 16th, Mid winter, Sundown 1730
1030 , temperature 44, wind 1-3 mph
Group Effects: resist energy 20pts acid 245rds; battle cry 4rds; haste 4rds; water breathing 5 hours each
Forest 24/116; clayskin 25/50, fly 105rds
Dragon -175 seriously injured;
Runt 72/96; magic vestment, enchantment foil, divine power 3rds, heroism 1097rds
Air elemental 75/104
Isabella 69/69; heroism 1098rds, shield of faith 106rds, angelic aspect 98rds, divine power 9rds
Kizzy 49/78;<<<
Yap uninjured; invisible

Kizzy breaks the surface of the swamp to see Isabella break the mage armor; she scrambles up out of the water, and begins her Inspire Greatness performance for Runt.

Round 9
Abadius 16th, Mid winter, Sundown 1730
1030 , temperature 44, wind 1-3 mph
Group Effects: resist energy 20pts acid 244rds; battle cry 3rds; haste 3rds; water breathing 5 hours each
Forest 24/116; clayskin 25/50, fly 104rds<<<
Dragon -175 seriously injured;
Runt 72/96; magic vestment, enchantment foil, divine power 2rds, heroism 1096rds, Inspire Greatness 22 HP
Air elemental 75/104
Isabella 69/69; heroism 1097rds, shield of faith 105rds, angelic aspect 97rds, divine power 8rds
Kizzy 49/78;
Yap uninjured; invisible

Forest spears the dragon on his longsword, not unlike a mosquito.

Fly 20'. Attack.
Longsword: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (20) + 23 = 43
S Dam (Magic, Adamantine): 1d8 + 13 ⇒ (8) + 13 = 21

Crit Conf: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (9) + 23 = 32
S Dam (Magic, Adamantine): 1d8 + 13 ⇒ (7) + 13 = 20

The dragon roars in pain and then tears into Forest with teeth, claws, buffeting wings, and its slapping tail. When the onslaught is over Forest still stands, bloodied, his clayskin nearly depleted but he stands.

Round 9
Abadius 16th, Mid winter, Sundown 1730
1030 , temperature 44, wind 1-3 mph
Group Effects: resist energy 20pts acid 244rds; battle cry 3rds; haste 3rds; water breathing 5 hours each
Forest 1/116; clayskin 10/50, fly 104rds
Dragon -216 critically injured;
Runt 72/96; magic vestment, enchantment foil, divine power 2rds, heroism 1096rds, Inspire Greatness 22 HP<<<
Air elemental 75/104<<<
Isabella 69/69; heroism 1097rds, shield of faith 105rds, angelic aspect 97rds, divine power 8rds<<<
Kizzy 49/78;<<<
Yap uninjured; invisible<<<

The elemental leads off with a pair of slams
to hit slam, outflank: 1d20 + 14 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 14 + 4 = 31
damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

to hit slam, outflank: 1d20 + 14 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 14 + 4 = 37
damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Sword in hand and with a flank, Runt tries to finish the creature.
to hit falchion, divine power, inspire greatness, bane, heroism, outflank: 1d20 + 13 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 13 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 = 36
damage slashing, cold iron, divine power, inspire, bane: 1d6 + 11 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (1) + 11 + 4 + 2 + 2 + (1, 3) = 24

to hit falchion, divine power, inspire greatness, bane, heroism, outflank, map: 1d20 + 13 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 - 5 ⇒ (2) + 13 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 - 5 = 24
damage slashing, cold iron, divine power, inspire, bane: 1d6 + 11 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (2) + 11 + 4 + 2 + 2 + (3, 1) = 25

Free shot from divine power
to hit falchion, divine power, inspire greatness, bane, heroism, outflank: 1d20 + 13 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 13 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 = 41
damage slashing, cold iron, divine power, inspire, bane: 1d6 + 11 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (6) + 11 + 4 + 2 + 2 + (4, 3) = 32

Runt hits the dragon with her first blow drawing blood and rage. Her second skips off scales but her third hits true knocking the final breath from the great lungs and the monster falls to the ground.

Congrats, you survived. I worried for a moment early on.

Looks like not eating us should have been part of the discussion. And I think you would look good in black dragon scale; I mean who wouldn’t. Kizzy directs the last part towards Runt.

Isabella, can you heal Forest? I don’t think there is much blood left in him at this point, and I would really like it if we could keep him around.

Now what? It's just before lunch, 1030 to be exact.

Shyly, Runt responds with her head low, "I think Forest deserves a lot of credit and, probably, dragon scale. I mean, look at us. I'm practically uninjured and Forest looks like a big chew toy."

Looking up with a smile she adds, "But dragon scale? That does sound pretty nice. Runt, dragon slayer! I'm definitely putting that on my resume, though I don't think anyone would believe me."

Runt examines the corpse with an eye towards salvage. A few scales maybe? Is the tongue worth anything? Blood?

survival: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26

She also looks around to see if it left any tracks that they could follow back to it's lair. I mean, dragon's lair loot? Right?

survival, tracking: 1d20 + 10 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 10 + 5 = 32

"Think we can salvage the boat?"

Profession carpentry or shipbuilding would be best but a know engineering might work for determining salvageability of the boat.

Runt reviews the dragon and is quite sure she could skin the monster and have enough hide that a smith could work with to make armor and a shield. As to the lair. Runt organizes everyone for the search once Forest is healed to some degree. Fanning out from your current location she has everyone looking for sunning areas (large areas of flattened growth) and or slides, very similar to beaver slides but much larger, showing where the dragon slipped into the swamp on a regular basis. After two hours of searching the group finds two slides and a sunning spot. An hour later, after relocating the search, you finally find what you suspect is the lair. A large hole, partially filled with swamp water goes into the side of an island hill that is topped by a large willow tree.

Having spent all of her time on spells to fight the beast and thus missing the battle, Isabella touches down lightly beside Forest and begins providing ministrations.

Cure moderate wounds, student of faith: 2d8 + 10 + 1 ⇒ (7, 3) + 10 + 1 = 21
Cure moderate wounds, student of faith: 2d8 + 10 + 1 ⇒ (6, 6) + 10 + 1 = 23

"If we need to repair the boat, I can prepare a make whole spell tomorrow. Nothing I can do today."

Kn Engineering: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18
Kizzy surveys the boat. Not really wanting to owe Clem a boat, and more importantly not wanting to be tromping through swamp water. She already has plans to burn her current outfit once she gets a new one.

I think make whole would be a good plan. Probably the least likely to fail and leave us at the bottom of the swamp. Again.

Prior to search....
"No hurry, I have a whole dragon to skin. Anyone want a tooth? Think you could use a couple of channels on us. I'm a little injured too."
Speaking of which, how long will that take? I'm thinking we will need to return to the corpse after the mission as it will take a loooong time, in spite of Runt's eagerness.

After search...
Hoping a bit in excitement, Runt is ready to plunge into the lair.

Yes, Kizzy is at 49/78 HP so A Channel would help
Kizzy will use her wand to help heal if needed before going to explore.
Kizzy helps collect "parts"; suggesting that the four have matching dragon tooth necklaces or something made.

Easy Runt, before falling to pieces, old black Kizzy adds a Varisian derogatory term here probably set some traps.

Based on alligator skinning and buffalo skinning, I think an experienced hunter, someone with 5 ranks of survival or more would be able to skin the dragon in under two hours. Gutting and meat prep would obviously take longer. It is very cool for a swamp but you do not expect the carcass to stay in one piece if you are gone for too long.

Going into the lair?

Before entering, Runt will summon 1d3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4 medium earth elementals to lead the way (since she knows Terran and they can take shortcuts and she's rather not rely on dretchs).

After summoning the elementals, she gives them this command.

Before entering and after the elementals return she will cast Heightened Awareness, Shadowfade, and See Invisibility on herself.