"It would appear sooner, rather than later is the order of the day."
Portia bows and scrapes now, bluffing obeisance and that we are here to serve.
Tanu quickly bows as well, motioning sharply for Casamir to do the same, following Portia's lead.
Casamir bows deeply, raising his hands to the drakes to show his submission.
The drakes are not impressed by Casamir's bow. As Wulfgar knows about them, "From those they can frighten, flame drakes exact harsh tribute, and they viciously attack any not so easily cowed." They do not take such disrespect lightly, and would rather extract the gold from the corpses of adventurers such as this than continue to speak to them and get paid.
Utilizing their impressive speed, two of the drakes sweep into combat. Charging through the air with wings powerfully beating, one of the creatures strikes at Wulfgar, while the other strikes at Casamir, jaws extended and snapping.
Then while the group recuperates from the attack, a third drake opens its maw. Flame rises and bubbles over like a cauldron before spilling forth in a fast-moving ball that rushes to the center of the group and explodes, spreading fire everywhere.
Then, utilizing a surprising burst of speed for creatures of this size, the drakes that attacked shoot back up into the air.
Talia suspects an aerial attack is coming, and as soon as the drake's flame gout appears, the once-noble sprints south, managing to avoid the worst of the beast's fiery bombardment.
She pulls forth her bardiche as she goes, and sends a flashbang towards the drakes to her west.
One of the drakes recoils in surprise as its sight is taken away. As a flighted creature, blindness is extra-scary, so it looks just about ready to run away. The other creature sets its hateful sights on Talia.
The fourth drake lets loose its own fireball, the heat spilling forth from its mouth like an imp from Hell.
Portia Porphyria-Jeggare takes the full blast of the Green Drake's Fireball, her Abjuration specialty absorbing and resisting much of the deadly heat. 'Bastards! Wait until you get a feel for REAL Hellfire!'
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Snorting when Talia add that they were waiting 'to see if they would get more.' Wulfgar makes a mental note of the masters name: Lord Vardak. Making eye contact with Pavo as the hell knight gives good advice. Wulfgar realizes the jig us up when the new guy tosses out another pouch, cursing the drakes. "cher'rt"Cursing himself when he sees the Drakes reaction.
Unable to dodge the diving drake Wulfgar throws an arm up to protect his face, and gets bloodied in the process, Glaring at the drake, he throws his arm up again as the other one blasts them with a fire ball. Reaching into his pouch, he realizes another drake is breathing fire as well, this one scorching his back through the armor. Drawing a small portion of powdered iron tossing it on himself. "uvelichit' litso" As he begins to enlarge, he looks at the Drakes, and mumbles, "At least fightink in armor."
Having hit the ground jumping from the fireballs, Portia Porphyria-Jeggare feigns a look of near death from the two fireballs as she casts the Major Image from her scroll.
Casting the Spell she Bluffs that she is casting a curse that will bring her and her allies back from the dead. Though it is in the language of the common man, allowing her allies to understand what she is doing, her gestures and tone -- that of a dying girl laying a curse, are such that she looks (or is attempting to look) genuine.
Around her, for about 100 cubic feet of forest floor, an illusion of the ghosts of adventurers -- Wulfgars and Tanus and Pavos and even Portias, all appear to rise from the scorched earth. She concentrates on of the illusory ghosts while prone under the illusory scorched earth, making them wisp around looking both dead and frightening -- and creates one each for her allies. The Ghost of Ydrasku is less perfect, as Portia is less familiar with his features and movements having only just met him. But the other illusory ghosts, those of all of us on the fireball-scorched earth, somewhat mask the reality of our situation under the figments of scorched earth.
Portia whispers out a shout as her 'dying breath': "We die -- but our Ghosts shall haunt the Drakes." And she feigns death.
Pavo manages to shield himself from the worst of the flames, grunting as his armor begins to glow slightly at the tips of it's spikes.
"This was inevitable, so we might as well stay these monsters now."
Planting his halberd into the damp ground, Pavo draws his bow and looses an arrow at the blinded glittery dragon.
to hit, for (non magical if that matters)
You're right -- it's got a DEX of +5
Phantom Steed HP 0/13
All Dead -- can't even go through its pocket and look for loose change!
Casamir ducks out of the way of the worst of the fire and dodges the drake’s attack as draws his sling, swinging it in a dizzyingly fast circle as he places and hand on his holy symbol of Lalaci, saying softly, ”Prince of Light, give these tyrants no respite.” He looses a sling bullet at the nearest drake (red), though his aim is substantially hampered by the driving rain.
Tanu quickly dodges the worst of the first fireball, but Nisha doesn’t, instead taking a nasty burn on the neck. This distracts and angers Tanu badly enough that he doesn’t avoid the second fireball nearly as well. He takes the brunt of the second flame ball, helping Nisha to avoid much more damage.
The mounted man takes up his planted lance and tries to stay low, hoping that Portia’s illusion work would but them some time, but readying for an attack in case that didn’t work.
Casamir and Pavo's attacks are lost in the driving rain, failing to reach and damage their targets. Tanu stands stock-still, his lance prepared to meet any charge, while Portia throws herself to the ground and summons an illusion of the ghosts of several adventurers rising out of the grass, waving weapons menacingly and letting loose ghostly groans.
The drakes are confused by this tactic. One drake is already blinded, and it clumsily flaps away from the battle to seek refuge. The other two circle the group in the air. Experimentally, the largest drake shoots a fireball into the center of the group again. Their smaller cousin holds their fire and rage back for the moment to see what happens.
The creatures were proud - and Talia suspected not very bright. She'd seen two swoop carelessly towards her companions, trading their reckless approach for a ferocious attack. Years in the wilderness dealing with beasts had taught Talia such tactics could be exploited. Raising her face and voice to the rain, Talia yelled at the drake that had shrugged off her flashbang.
Raising her bardiche in front of her, Talia trusts her impudence to bring the beast in close, reckless and rage-filled. With any luck, her weapon would spear the drake before it could do the same.
In answer to Talia's challenge, one of the drakes gives a low growl and sweeps in towards her on leathery wings. Teeth flashing, the creature lands heavily in front of the Brevic bard -- and is rewarded with two fresh wounds from the skald's polearm. The creature makes a keening noise and then lunges towards Talia with its maw. However, the puissant poet manages to fend the creature off.
Pavo again stands against the wash of fire, his rain soaked armor steaming as it heats up even more.
"Excellent, one has chosen a quick death. Well done, Talia."
Dropping his bow, Pavo moves over to assist the bard in melee, bringing his halberd to bear on the dragon.
to hit, for damage
Casamir keeps up the pace of his sling, though as he continues the rapid circling frost crystals start to form on it and the bullet he hurls at the (blue) drake almost looks like a little snowball, albeit one thrown by a child with herculean strength. He then moves away from the central clump hoping to get away from future fireballs.
Concentrating on her illusion, each of the Ghosts, especially those enveloping PCs, as PCs, begin to shimmer with freezing ice. The frost, radiating from the various Ghosts, begins creating a new,, maybe 40 inches or so thick, illusory fog that roils in mists on the ground. And all of the Ghosts look up to the flying Drakes and moan at full volume. The Ghost of fallen Wulfgar, moreover, turns skeletal and veritably drips with ice-sickles as it opens its mouth in a wrathful wail.
Portia Porphyria-Jeggare, while concentrating, crawls underneath the illusory ground fog to some cover under some bushes, cradling her Owlbear egg in one forearm grasp -- and Tiamat slithers back into her Haversack. She hides beneath the illusory fog and the leaves and vines in the thick terrain.
Soon, if the Major Image doesn't help enough, she will begin casting her Frost Cantrips; hopefully that will help somewhat.
The fireball being centered right on Tanu ends up being his downfall. The searing ball of flame strikes both him and Nisha directly, before either has time to defend themselves. The flames burn Nisha severely, but she still stands. The same could not be said for the battle herald, though. His lance clatters to the burning forest floor, and despite the military saddle he sits in, the knight quickly follows.
Nisha, half crazed with pain from the flames, seems unwilling to leave her charge. She takes a stand over him, preparing to bite any hostile creature who comes in range.
Tanu just barely manages to hold his seat, but it is a near thing. These fireball spitting monstrosities threw one major wallop, but he couldn't abandon his crew. So, burned and ragged as he was, he lowered his lance and charged at the one drake within reach. Maybe bringing this one down would cause the others to rethink their life choices.
The flames from the largest and strongest drake fell two of the adventuring party, while others step in with weapons flashing to do battle with the creature who had landed. With Talia's attacks slowing the drake down, both Tanu and Pavo manage to land punishing blows on the monster. Tanu's lance spears directly into the drake's heart. With a pitiable cry, it collapses to the ground, dead.
In response to Portia's illusion, the two other drakes fly higher, away from the scene. They roar with either frustration or satisfaction as their smaller, more gullible cousin is killed by their prey, and continue to circle at a higher altitude, gazing down onto the scene below.
Tanu breathes a sigh of relief when the blue drake succumbs to his lance, then looks around for Wulfgar. They were in desperate need of healing. Spotting the fallen cleric, Tanu gets Nisha to move over next to him while Tanu pulls a potion from his pack.
Tanu nimbly hops down off of Nisha, crouches down, and pours the potion down the cleric's throat.
He then lifts the banner back toward the sky and turns his keen gaze upward, waiting to see what happens next.
With the dra,gons out of reach, Pavo draws out and drinks his own healing potion.
"If they're going to stay aloft we need to find cover! Those fire breath attacks will cook us all."
Wulfgar's eyes flutter open, and Talia is torn on what to do next - make sure the drake in front of her is dead, or send another flashbang at one of the ones circling above. Better safe than sorry, she decides and lifting her polearm above her head, plunges it into the wrym's eye.
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Waking as Tanu removes the potion bottle from his lips, Wulfgar blinks his eyes; his left coming into focus, his right rolling up into his head. "Spasibo." Looking around as he got to his feet, Still weak he staggers a bit as he realizes he is not the only wounded. Snorting as he sees Talia plunge her polearm into the Drakes eye, he mumbles. "Well done comRade." Calling on the power of his god, "kanal energii." He channels healing power, hoping to help his allies.
The group focuses mostly on healing after the drakes' brutal assault, although Talia ensures that their one victim is well and truly dead. Casamir is able to wake as Gorum's healing energies wash over him, while the drakes above circle.
Casamir clambers to his feet and follows Wulfgar’s channel with one if his own, raising his prismatic holy symbol as a burst of glittering light washes over the party (minus Talia and Portia).
Now fully healed, Pavo looks up at the circling drakes and raises his halberd towards them.
"Your sneak attacks and flames have failed you. Supplicate yourselves or be slain at the edge of our blades, the choice is yours! This land will have no monsters uncontrolled, not any longer!"
If they do not react, he continues to berate and badger them in Draconic.
Without any of the drakes within range of her cantrips, and without having prepared new magics the previous night, Portia is very short on options. Not wishing to get roasted by any drakes' fire breath, she dashes away from the center of the group while concentrating on her illusion. The icy ghosts of the party members wave their weapons menacingly and drip with rime, while the real live party members stand below and do the same thing.
Growing tired of battle, and not wishing to join their companion in death, the drakes merely growl and hiss at each other. The largest and most muscular drake -- the leader, as it were -- hisses out a warning in Draconic, "טיפשים! השריפות שלנו קלושות בהשוואה לאדונינו. בקרוב תדע את ההשלכות."
Then the two drakes unleash one last fireball down on the group each. The two balls of fire explode under Pavo and Talia's feet, washing the battleground with magical flames. After their assault, the drakes make use of their prodigious speed to fly away. In an instant, they vanish into the rain.
Pavo takes the full brunt of the first fireball, twisting away and lessening the damage from the second. He watches as the drakes fly off, armor spikes glowing very faintly orange at the tips and steam washing off his armor as the rain pelts down on the heated metal.
"That could have gone better, but it certainly could have gone worse. I expect a hunt for their draconic master will soon be in the works. That is, unless you wish to live under a fire-breathing lizards rulership."
He retrieves his bow and looks at the others.
"What's next?"
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His good left eye looking to the skies at the drakes, then towards the angry Hell Knight yelling at them. Wulfgar couldn't understand the words, but he understood the attitude and wasn't surprised when the drakes dove again and spat fire. His time raising his arm protecting himself as best as he could.
Glaring at the drakes as they flew way he nods his head in agreement with Pavo, "Dah huntink down drake master is soundink like good idea."
Realizing several were burned again, He looks to his companions with his left eye, the right eye twitching. "Be gatherink round, comRades. Channelink energy I will be doink." For a second the clerics right eye stops twitching and focus with the left. the grey mountain shaped iris and black sword shaped pupil becoming clear as he prays. "канал энергии" Moving his own shoulders then looking at the others he nods approvingly.
Moving back towards what was left of the fire, Wulfgar shakes his head, looking at the scorched boar, barely recognizable. "Pity, dah comRades?" He fishes some dried unidentifiable jerky from his pack, as he bites and chews he asks. "shall we be keepink on goink?"
Both Tanu and Nisha are injured enough that they are not responding terribly quickly, and both fireballs find full purchase against them. Tanu breathes a deep sigh of relief when the drakes fly away. "That was much too close. We most definitely need to think of ways to counter their advantages when we face off against them again."
The knight gives a nod of thanks to Wulfgar as the clerics healing magic courses through him. "My thanks, comrade." He then turns and makes his way over to the body of the fallen drake, only limping a little, and begins to search the body for any valuables or anything else of note.
Her hair burnt, her clothes singed and smoking, Talia turns her head to the sky and yells at the retreating drakes, adrenaline pushing her voice high. "תגיד לאדוניך שהוכתם על ידי אחד מילדי צ'וראל! ראש אחיך יכין גביע משובח שהורכב מעל מעטפתי!"
Hefting her bardiche above her head, Talia brings the axe-head down on the dead drake's head for emphasis, and then again, and again, until the head is severed from its body.
Lifting the head with a grunt, she places it over her shoulder, resting atop her pack. "I'd like to go back to Fort Thorn now."
Casamir lets out a hearty laugh, ”Exhilarating! What a spectacle that was!”
Producing his dagger he tales a scale from the drake and studies it before slipping it into his pocket before retrieving the gold he threw to the drakes.
He nods to Talia, ”A righteous plan. Shall we?”
The drake felled by Tanu is carrying nothing -- it seems Pavo and Tanu's coinpurses were taken by the other drakes. Examining its corpse yields a view of a painted white hand on the creature's breast.
Casamir and Portia, who tossed coins to the ground, are able to pick up their few pieces.
As the party discusses what to do, the rain lessens a bit, but is replaced by a stronger, chilling wind. Consulting maps of the Vale, it's clear that it's a long walk yet to Fort Thorn. The trip promises to be more than a full day of walking.