Hm, well this all sounds terrible. Dragons and wizards and orcs, oh my, whatever shall we do? I'm hungry, lets see if the wizards are still in their castle. They might have some decent grub.
"A question to ask at the moment was if this town was assaulted,
was the castle assaulted as well and if so were the Orcs and Dragons the Victors?"
"It's likely best to check the situation, carefully.
If the Orcish horde is or was the victor.
I don't want to alert them to us if they are in the area,
unless we want a lot of trouble."
"I'll check it out and see what I find out."
Rune goes invisible and starts flying to the castle doing a stealthy recon of the Road to the castle and castle.
Flying up towards the castle Rune spots several (4) creatures patrolling the path up to the castle. They look like massive bears but they have Dragon wings and a green dragon head like some kind of strange dragon bear fusions. Rune recognizes the creatures as chimeras but they are unlike any she has seen before in her estimation these look to be far stronger than normal chimera.
Further up the road she spots fortifications and tents. It looks like the orcs have built camps all around the castle. Looks like Sarwal Castle is under siege.
The invisible Rune decides to check the castle and flies toward it. As she want to know the situation with the castle and to check it stealthily.
It will take quite some time to reach the castle (it's 1 mile from the village ~5000 feet) Just how far do you go? Alone?
Seeing the castle is further away then she'd like Rune turns back to the town to report back to the group what was found.
Obidiah looks to Mae, Liam, and Jonuli to say "If they're racing ahead to scout, we should probably follow along slowly so we're close enough to rescue them when they get in trouble."
He starts up the trail to the castle, keeping a lookout for trouble and a sharp ear for sounds that Rune and Devlin are in trouble.
Assuming you do try to go on ahead you can likely make it at least as far as the primary orc camp without an issue. It's built about halfway to the castle from the village. It's built in a style similar to a roman fort
One of the four corner towers is larger than the others and built like a nest of sorts. Atop it is a creature that gives Rune pause.
A gargantuan green dragon is curled up atop the tower having a nap. At first Rune believes it might be a legendary great wyrm dragon but thinking clearly it's not quite big enough for that. Still that creature is at least ancient and her invisibility would not fool it's eyes and even asleep sneaking past it without being noticed wont be easy dragons have notoriously good senses.
Devlin tries to make his way up as well but the giant bear creature seems to become aware of his presence as soon as he comes within 60 feet of one and sticks his head out to look around. The creature didn't see him but it tensed up and started looking around more carefully and when it does so the other ones seems to start looking around more actively as well. Devlin can only assume that they have extraordinary strong senses of smell.
Devlin promptly backs off and heads back to the main body (Obidiah, Liam, Mae and Jonuli). "Ok, Rune's flown a bit farther, but there are four gigantic bear-dragon things up ahead. I think they're sentinels for the camp that's besieging the castle. I'm guessing that's the orcs. There's a BIG green dragon sleeping on one of the towers in the camp. I think we need a planning session here, because that's a lot of enemies. Let's let Rune come back to us, and lay us a plan. Be nice if we could get this in quick, and jump the dragon while it's still napping..."
He'll answer any questions about the bear-dragon things as best he can.
"It sounds like a lot of planning went into this. These orcs knew what they were getting into. That's...unusual for orcs." Liam says scratching his head.
"It sounds like a lot of planning went into this. These orcs knew what they were getting into. That's...unusual for orcs." Liam says scratching his head.
"I'd guess the orcs aren't in charge - there's a big old dragon there."
"They have a F***ing dragon, and the camp is like a fortess."
Surly we are cleverer than some stupid dragon and orcs and nasty chinera. Cant we just approach the castle from a different direction. I assume you all are able to get flying yes? If not I could stick an air walk on you. Otherwise we might have to fight our way through them. I could disguise you all as a bunch of orcs instead and we could try and talk our way through, maybe...
"By Torag, that bunch up there killed all the folk of that village back there and carried off the survivors." Obidiah exclaims.
"Getting to the castle is important, but we can't let those villagers suffer in bondage or worse." he continues.
"We should draw that dragon out, kill it or drive it off, and then deal with the orcish scum."
He looks to Jonuli for support.
Mae grins at Obidiah, I like the idea of fighting a dragon but those chimera things can probably fly as well and the orcs might have experienced archers among them, especially if they are coming after a bunch of wizards. You ready for that much heat?
" I think we can get into the castle, no problem, Mae. I just don't think it's right tactical answer. That just puts us inside the box with the Sarwals.
I agree with Obidiah. Let's take advantage of the fact that this hostile force is focused on the castle, and corn-cob them while they are distracted."
"I don't think flight would be good unless we could keep ourselves invisible.
Now the Disguise idea is good, but how is everyone in the Orcish tongue?
And it'd be best to cut off the escape route if we do go down that way."
"A dragon leading a bunch of orcs? That's unusual. Something strange going on here." he pauses. "I mean, it's a camp full of orcs besieging a castle. That's odd itself. But this is even moreso."
"A dragon leading a bunch of orcs? That's unusual. Something strange going on here." he pauses. "I mean, it's a camp full of orcs besieging a castle. That's odd itself. But this is even moreso."
"Something weird if going on, sure enough... but let's not put our wagon ahead of the horses, we don't know if the dragon is the prime mover either."
"That big green beastie is likely to chase after someone who attacks it. Leaving the orcs behind at least." Obidiah says.
"Especially if hurt by a gold beastie...." he finishes, looking sideways at Jonuli.
"Pull it away from the camp, maybe back to the wreckage of the village, and lead it into an ambush."
They are around 200-300 feet from camp. They do not have line of sight from the camp to the the cliffs because of elevation and foliage in the way. If attacked it could possibly not be noticed unless there is a lot of noise or big flashy attacks and if notice it would probably take a minute or so for reinforcement to arrive unless the dragon decides to come in which case it can be there in 1 or 2 rounds.
They are also separated from each other enough that if one is attacked it will take a round or two before they others can come help thought the attack will be noticed right away by the other chimeras.
"That's a big camp, maybe 200'x200'. Assume the walls occupy 10' on each side, that's 180 X180. Assume a squad tent every 20X20 square roughly, and your're talking...", Devlin pauses as he figures, "Maybe a thousand orcs?"
He continues, [b]"I think we need to thing in terms of taking out leadership, at least for the start, rather than mass extermination. Especially as there may be more here than just what we've seen - something was throwing magical explosions, like fireballs, earthquakes, big conjurations, and more..."[b]
Jonuli turns to the rest of the group and says, "Before we go rushing off into combat without much information, why don't we see if we can get into the castle another way. If we can get in we can get out. The idea is to talk to the Sarwals and get more information on what happened and the best way to take out this bunch. I may be we come back out and attack the chimeras but there may be something else that that know in the castle."
"We can't rush to the castle, or we risk being put into a pincer maneuver which means some of use will likely die.
If we weaken the Orcs, it'll mean if we need to get out it'll be much easier then if they are at full strength.
I think we should take out the chimaeras first since they give them air support and they might sense anything sneaky we plan or do.
Then the camp will be weaker to various methods and plans we come up with and use.
The Biggest known problem is that F***ing Dragon."
"But Devlin does raise a point, in that there maybe one that we should
really look out for, but I think they're focused on the castle at the moment."
"I'm confident I can get into the castle without being detected. A fella who can walk through the bones of the earth is hard to keep out of places. I don't know the Sarwal's myself, unlike Obidiah, and I'm no diplomat, but I could easily carry messages back and forth... "
"If you moving through the earth, then you'd better hope that nothing and sense you moving through the earth, or you'll be in trouble."
"If you moving through the earth, then you'd better hope that nothing and sense you moving through the earth, or you'll be in trouble."
About the camp, your estimations on size was about right the inside of the walls is about 160x160 there is a bit empty zone in the middle were they have cooking fires and a gathering area and wooden building which is like 30x40 which is the commanders cabin and the orcs have their tents a little disorganized inside and pretty spread out so not 1000 more like 200-300.
The Dragon is perched atop the top-left tower.
Mae scrutinises the camp, If we want to get a bit closer then I can cloak us all in an invisibility sphere. The dragon would be able to detect us with its heightened senses but we might at least get within striking distance. I think, perhaps, we should quickly take down the bears and then back off. Maybe draw the orcs of the fort and the take out the dragon in the air. I mightt be able to hold off the orcs getting out of the fort.
I do not believe Life bubble stops a cone of acid?
As for you knowledge hmm yeah I can give you some info.
Lets see dragon:
It's ancient ~600 years old (Cr17)
Can cast spells like a 13th level sorcerer
SR 28
It can make a cloud of acid with his breath weapon that persist for multiple rounds (this would be stopped by life bubble)
Damage reduction 15/magic
breath weapon is a 60 foot cone of ouch (20d6)
300 foot radius aura of fear
Chimera
The chimera have green dragon heads, as such green dragon eggs were used in their creation process.
They are also immune to acid and also posses a cone of acid breath weapon.
Being part bear instead of lion they will be physically stronger and more prone to grappling and crushing it's opponent instead of using bite attacks. It also has two bite and two claw attacks.
"Ok, folks, tactics. Take a look HERE .", Devlin starts drawing in the dirt. With Geokinesis it's incredible the detail he can put down in a dirt picture.
"The dragon is the big threat that we've seen so far, and it's offering us a huge tactical advantage against it because it's napping...Knocking it out of play while it's at a disadvantage would be huge for us. So I suggest our first action that tips off the enemy should be killing it."
"I was saying take the chimera's earlier, but they are too well dispersed, (while being alert) to take out without significant risk of alerting the camp. So instead, we just bypass them and hit the camp from the far side"
"The other thing to be wary of is that there's another caster about -Mae identified an earthquake spell hit the village, and that didn't come from a 13th level sorcerer... "
Mae looks over the plan with a grin. Sounds good, I like it. Use the terrain against the enemy. Make sure we are more mobile than them. Can everyone fly or move quickly?
"If we take our time on the set up at the observation point, I can make everyone bunkers to start in."
"I agree the Dragon is the biggest known threat and the earthquake spell,
I'm guessing requires one with a divine connection....
That is very troublesome...."
"I think it might be better to put some internal confusion and chaos in the camp before we attack it,
so they are less organised in a response to it.
That and if done right we can learn more about the state of the castle from them while they don't know of us."
Mae griins,Its a good idea but how noticeable will it be that we are doing it. Also, I wouldnt want to be stuck in a confined area with a dragon coming at me, it needs to have an exit, preferably more than one.
"Oh I can could make for a very convincing Orc so I'd be right under their noses."
Rune uses her change shape to morph into a Female Orc
Then speaks in a perfect Orcish Tongue and accent
"Я довольно убедительный орк, не так ли?"
Then she changes back.
"I can get in and out in a number of ways, even going through walls."
"I'm a pretty convincing Orc am I not?"
"If Devlin can find a place on that slope where he can take a shot a the dragon then I'm game for backing him up." Obidiah says to the others.
"While he's spinning up his magic pebbles, I'll find a concealed spot to power up my hammer and be ready for it when it comes after him."
"We've got enough people on the ground that we're going to need to draw the dragon and the chimeras in so we can get at them." He continues.
"Mae, could you cook up an illusion of a group of human knights and wizards to give them a target?" he asks the illusionist. "I'd doubt you could fool a dragon up close, but we want them to fly in and possibly waste their breath weapons on fake targets."
Devlin leads the path along the path he planned . Three quarters of the way to the jump-off point, he speaks up, "Ok, I'm going to set up a hideyhole for us to regroup at if we need to. Spellcasters, memorize the location so you can do your bibby-boo to get haul people.". You've all seen him work with stone before, so your not surprised in the least as he bores a him-sized (4'x1.5') tunnel 60' into the solid rock of the mountains in a couple of minutes, and then starts expanding a cave beyond. In 20 minutes he's cleared a 20x26x8' space at the end of the tunnel, cut a series of 2" pipe holes (with bends to stop direct blow-in) for ventilation, and is then backing out of the tunnel, sealing it behind him. He leaves no evidence that the hidey hole is there, hidden behind 60' of rock and a blank cliff-face.
That done, he leads you on to the jump off point. At the edge of the forest, 40' back from the cleared part of the road, he speaks again "Bide here a bit, I'll sneak out there and cut us a bunker trench to hide in while we get ready. Rune, Liam, scout about a bit; I'd be disappointed to set up this little rip and run and have an orc patrol come up our backside and start the party early..."
With that, he eels forward to the edge of the cover, takes a peek out towards the orc fortification and begins stealthily sculpting a trench/bunker thing, with the side facing the fort being undisturbed, while providing improved cover for those hiding behind it. He cuts it below the surface so that it's hidden from the hostile side. All the while he keep a wary eye out for trouble.
Once the hide/bunker is set up, he slips back to the party and invites you all to his creation. ”Ok, we’re in position. Mae, ye were going to cast some spells to enhance us all. anybody else that has pre-buffs they want to use, now is the time… Once that’s done, I’m going to get down to business. It’ll take 20 seconds or so. Wait for the blasts to go off and then throw your best shot at yon great green beastie. Cayden’s luck to you all, let’s start the dance”
"Oh I like your spider hole, As I can bet they'll check the town if we retreat."
"I'll see if I can find an Orc outside of camp, and see if I can get some information out of them.
All it'll take is some mind reading and questioning.
It'll help in knowing more about how the camp is set and who might need to be on the priority list among the Orcs."
"When we are attacking it would be best if I could stay invisible as I fight instead of needing to constantly needing to make myself invisible after every swing."
Rune can find any lone orcs around but she does spot a patrol of ten orcs (all males) making their way back towards the camp from the north side of the castle.
If your going ahead with the blast go ahead and do the rolls.
Obidiah casts Stoneskin on himself in preparation.
He asks the others "Am I going to cast a Haste spell on all of us, or does someone else have that covered?"
When Devlin blasts the Dragon, he will use a swift action and spend an arcane pool point to add Shock, Flaming Burst, and Frost to his warhammer and a standard action to use Warrior Spirit to add +2 enhancement bonus and Bane:Magical Beasts.
Obidiah will find a place close to Devlin's hole where he can get under cover and have line of site to the sky between the fort and Devlin's position.
He will make sure Mae is under cover as well.
"Don't get spotted by the big green beastie lass. You won't make much more than a mouthful if it snatches you up."
Mae grins back at Devlin, Oh, I think I can protect myself, you might want to look out for yourself
Obidiah will cast Haste as well right before Devlin sinks underground to power up, including all party members that are close enough.