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Okay, I was so proud of my players today I have to share. I had been dreading the giant attack at the beginning of Fortress of the Stone Giants. A huge battle that was going to be very long, involve lots of creatures and NPC's, and cover the entire city, making it practically unplayable on a grid. My players hate playing without a grid, and I don't much like long fights, so I wasn't looking forward to running the fight. I almost changed the fight entirely, making the attack happen before the characters arrived at Sandpoint. God I'm so glad I didn't.
This was one of the most epic battles I have ever ran. The party was running, or riding, through the city fighting giants. Making use of their haste and fly spells. The scout of our group stole a horse during the commotion and rode through the streets, shooting her shortbow at giants and direbears.
The highlight was the dragon fight however. Longtooth swooped through the town, set fire to the Garrison and the Cathedral. Then perched on the armory across the square from the cathedral and roared a bit. The wizard, who casted fly on himself at the beginning of the fight, dimensioned doored himself, the scout, and the horse she was riding, 40 feet above the dragon.
The scout succeeds a ride check, holds on to the horse as it plummets. The dragon failed a perception check to notice the horse and rider falling on his head. The horse hits the dragon on the head with a resounding thud, dealing enough damage to the horse to kill it, and enough damage to Longtooth to really piss him off. The scout was able to tumble off the horse and onto the dragons back.
Next round, the dragon takes off. The scout again succeeds a ride check to hold on. She pulls a rope from her pack and succeeds a dexterity check to toss the rope around the dragon and tie herself to its back. The dragon begins doing barrel rolls and flying at full speed (300 feet per round).
The wizard, in a shockingly intelligent move, sees this dragon flying so fast, and throws an invisible force wall up in front of him. The dragon does not notice this and hits the force wall at roughly 34 miles per hour.... directly over Scarnetti's saw mill.
The dragon plummets to the ground, fails a save to pull out of the crash, falls through the saw mill, which (by a random check) was running at the time. Longtooth is sliced up by the saws, while the scout passed an Escape Artist check to get free of the rope, a tumble check to get off the dragon, and a reflex save to dodge a few saw blades that were flying through the air as she made her way out of the sawmill.
This was easily the coolest moment in the entire campaign for me thus far, and I just want to thank Paizo and Wolfgang Baur for this great adventure, and great adventure path. You guys have given me and my group so much enjoyment.