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Here is our encounter with Dragotha in summary, our DM has graciously posted images of his handcrafted map on his message
<http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/dungeon/ageOfWorms/theDragothaProj ect>
Here is our story as the players. Dont read it if you havnt done it. ;)
Count Andrew Byron: Human Knight 12, Fighter 2, Legendary Leader 5
Brendolf the Rhino: Bugbear Barbarian 6, Fighter 12
Bendix Flux: Human Cleric 19
Vardoom: Human Cleric 4, Wizard 4, Mystic Theurge 10
Santana: Human Warlock 15, Fighter 4
Jack: Human Druid 12, Rogue 7
Breaching the top of the down flowing river of hellish worm, the scattered winds regain their composure and take measure of their surroundings. Knowing that Dragotha must be near, they hurriedly re-secure their gear and handle their weapons. A gaping maw of a cavern lies before them, disappearing around the corner into the darkness, the steady flow of liquid and worm towards them giving of an iridescent glow, slightly illuminating the cavern, but giving no clue to the height of the cavern or what may be hidden in the shadows.
Brendolf the Rhino, the Enlarged Bugbear strides foreword, weary of stepping in the flowing worm water in the center of the passage he hops over the oozing stream and peers into the darkness, sniffing the air for unknown scents. His damp slime infested fur trembles in the shadows as he secures his locked gauntlet to his enormous Adamantine Greatsword, the sword itself signals it’s holder that danger unseen is all too close. Brendolf holds his adrenalin in check and waits on his patron in whom he holds a life debt for, the Count Andrew Byron of Diamond Lake.
The Knight and Nobleman Byron makes his way foreword as well, taking a short jog and leaping over the pool to cover the far side of the passageway opposite to Brendolf. The movement is graceful if not so silent as the mithral plate mail hammers against his mithral shield and war hammer, the sounds echoing down the passageway, possibly giving away their position. Byron looks back on the party and readies his locked gauntlet as well, ensuring his long sword is handy if needed. He awaits the rest, prepared to defend the party if needed; he whispers a silent prayer to Heironeous as he stands readied for combat.
Bendix Flux, Cardinal to the church of the Invincible one kneels next to his counterpart, Vardoom, Master of the Arts Arcane and Bishop of the same church. The chanting prayers from the two echo within the confines of the passageway. “Heironeous, protect your followers from the powers of the undead, our lord grant us courage in our time of need, enable us to smite your enemies and those of mankind.” The casting would go on for a while longer if the locations security would not have been breeched.
Santana, Warlock Gypsy of Diamond Lake in the back activates his final wand as the screeching of the twice damned wraiths burst from the walls, tearing their incorporeal hands across flesh and through armor. Caught by surprises, Bendix feels the better part of his life force being pulled from his very being. Jack, Druid and ever faithful to the woodlands attempts to drive the creatures away with his weapons but fails to pierce the ethereal bodies of the creatures.
As the rear of the party is suddenly struck by the wraiths, the front of the party composed of Byron and Brendolf similarly come under attack, but by a much more threatening foe. A huge black creature lurches through the darkness; it pauses just inside of sight and whispers something evil out loud. Suddenly, the once Giant Bugbear reduces to his normal size, many of the party feels their divine protection failing in the sight of the huge Nightstalkers. The Knight and Barbarian hold their ground waiting for the party to recuperate when a second disruption strikes from the unseen darkness, further removing the Invincible one’s protections.
From the Rear, the party quickly recoups and takes measurements to reduce the enemy’s abilities. Santana empowers himself into the air through the power of his patron and readies his holy, undead bane chain to strike any creature daring to come near to the party throwing powerful bolts of eldritch power into the air. As the wraiths move out to strike again Bendix calls out to Heironeous pulling his granted divine power into the destruction of the undead creatures. Three of them scream their final wails and disappear from existence, their incorporeal bodies dissolving into a mist, leaving only two remaining.
Jack, no longer threatened by the creatures reaches his hand to the ground and commands the very stone to obey him; it complies quickly, raising a tall wall between the front Nightstalker and its ally. Very soon, the group hears trembling stone as the enraged creature attempts to break the newly formed wall down. The Nightstalker in the front, faced with two enemies reaches down towards Byron the Knight, it grabs the head of the Holy Disrupting warhammer and rips it from the hand of its wielder tearing the locked gauntlet nearly in half. I screams out as the magical power in the weapon begins to disrupt the powers granting the creature its quasi life. Brendolf screams as he drives his Greatsword into the side of the creature, tearing away undead flesh and cartilage, the Stalker reels from the heavy blows but disregards them as it breaks the holy warhammer in half and throws the remains into the river of worm. Byron stands staring in wonder at the creatures might, he readies his shield and drives it into the creature to make another opening for the bugbear.
Still recovering from the onslaught, Vardoom and Santana strike the remaining wraiths as Bendix uses the power of Heironeous to obliterate the remaining wraiths. Vardoom moves forward to the front and tosses his own magical longswod to Byron, who quickly covers it with silversheen and tosses a second vial to the bugbear who silversheens his own greatsword and activates the disruption spell in his magical ring. As the remaining silver drips down the blade covering the black adamantine the second Nightstalker destroys the wall containing it and steps through. It quickly tries to pull the longsword from the Knight as yet another Nightstalker behind it commands any remaining protective powers of the group to fail. One of the clerics ready for the creatures let loose a mighty holy bolt towards the creature felling it with one blow of Heironian power. The third soon follows by the mass strength and discipline of the remaining party.
Seconds later, in a vain attempt to restore and recover from the dispelling power of the Nightstalkers Byron looks around the corner to see a large ziggurat with worms flowing from its center, pouring down and creating the river of worm that flows past the party. A dragon, larger then he has ever seen or known of sits on top of the pillar, staring back, the glowing green sockets giving off a hellish light as it falls on the Knight, glistening off of the mithral.
“So you have finally come to face me mortals, I will make an end to you here and add your flesh to my army and your treasure to my hoard,” The Dracolich Dragotha announces calmly, awaiting a response.
“Your time comes to an end you unearthly creature” Byron shouts, charging to the far left of the room as the bugbear charges to the right to flank the giant ziggurat.
“So sad” the creature sighs as it rears back and fire like never seen before flows from it’s gaping maw, it illuminates all the way to the top of the hundred foot cavern, both warriors are caught in it’s path, the bugbear narrowly falling behind some slight opening in it’s cone, the Knight awed by the sight is blown nearly off of his feet. The corners of the room glow from the heat, a shimmer of gold and silver glows from the back of cavern, eons of treasure stolen by the undead abomination. As the party recognizes the threat a sudden feeling of calm comes over them as those chosen by Balakard blesses them with some of his essence to take the battle to the dragon.
Byron and Brendolf Reel as the rest of the party enters the room when the fire dies down. Quickly Vardoom calls forth his arcane powers and a huge cloud of fog appears over the ziggurat effectively blocking all sight to the Dragon, it roars as the confines of the solid acidic fog holds the creature place tightly. Brendof begins his charge up the Ziggurat’s steps and tears a gaping chunk of bone from the creatures fore claw.
As the Jack and Santana finally enter the room, six Avolokia clerics peer over the high ledges of the room, and begin raining divine fire from Kyuss onto the party. Byron quickly up a wall to confront three of the creatures yet faithful to Kyuss and his minions, and Jack in the form of a bird seals in two others by commanding the stone to cage in the parties enemies. He then flies to the opposite side of the room to assist Byron on the three others. Vardoom begins his actual assault by pulling out a scroll and reading the powerful arcane words, suddenly all movement stops around him as time itself rears to a halt. He removes two other scrolls, one calling fort a sphere of ultimate destruction and placing it beneath the dracolich’s feet, he continues by summoning some other effects and using his remaining time to call on Erroneous’ blessing to bolster his own might as time suddenly speeds up again around him. The sphere tears a powerful chuck of undead bone from the dracolich’s lower body as it begins to eat at the very matter of the creature.
Dragotha, not one to be outdone and held still in the matter around it reaches it’s head from the mist and lets loose another flaming breath on the party, it catches the bugbear full force from a few feet away but the powers granted by the fallen archmage Balakard protect the bugbear from the inferno issuing from the beast. Dragotha, for all of its effort catches a holy greatsword by a now enlarged bugbear right in the face, the bugbear tears chunks out of Dragotha’s bones and undead flesh. Pieces of cartilage fly around the room as the powerful blows dislocate age old bone, Dragotha retaliates quickly, tearing much of the bugbears own flesh from the bone. But as the barbarian begins to fall, blood pouring from a dozen wounds a blessing from the Invincible one shines forth through the stone even and Brendolf stands again, healed of nearly all of his wounds. Dragotha rages at this readying another terrifying blow.
As Byron and Jack subdue the remaining Avolokia clerics, Santana glides foreword readying a scroll to grant the bugbear stone like skin to protect against the Dracolich as Brendolf tears even more of the creatures body away from it. Seconds too late to bolster his ally Santana looks in horror as Dragotha reaches out of the fog cloud and tears the bugbear completely in half in a few seconds. Byron shouts in anger from the ledge above as he kills a cleric and leaps from the ledge to attack another, falling flat on his face a dozen feet below.
Seconds later, Bendix completes his summoning and a creature of stone and earth pulls itself from the ground and strides up to Dragotha’s ziggurat, it proceeds to smash into the undead dragon time after time breaking away more bone, but not faster than the dragon can call on power from the negative plane of energy and heal itself. Not afraid of death itself, Dragotha then uses its arcane power to shift its position to stand above the Cleric Bendix whom retreats but is still ripped asunder by the Dracolich. The monolithic earth creature gives one last assault as its caller dies and it returns from the realm it was summoned from. In hopeless abandon Santana opens a special door and transports Brendolf’s body to a safer location on the ledge and re-enters the fight. Blasting away with his remaining eldritch power at Dragotha he checks on the fallen Bendix and attempts to aid Vardoom in his standing fight with the dragon. Vardoom calls out to the group as he knee’s above Bendix’s fallen body, “retreat, everyone to me, we have to get out of here”
Byron yells out over the dragon’s roars and the sounds of bone on stone. “Not without Brendolf” as he strikes against the bone dragon’s hindquarters.
From the ledge above, Jack shouts that he’ll get Brendolf’s body out and to leave. Byron agrees and charges beneath the gargantuan dragon and reaches Vardoom and Santana unscathed. In a burst of magic Vardoom, Byron, Santana and Bendix return to Greyhawk City, as they re-appear worms burst from their flesh causing even more damage to the severely weakened trio, having somehow followed them here from the fissure. Santana declares we have to go back for Brendolf, I have two more scrolls of teleport, I’ll take us back, Byron will grab Bendix and you return us, we can’t leave behind Brendolf!” Quickly the group agrees and begins to cast from the scrolls ignoring the worms infesting their living flesh.
In the meanwhile, Jack, alone in the belly of the Wormcrawl fissure, at the very heart of Dragotha’s lair he stands facing the Dracolich as it turns quickly to face its remaining living foe. “Now you die it cries as it leaps up and takes a bite at the Druid” Jack reels back into a side cavern as the dragons teeth rip away some of the flesh, he huddles in the back, calling on all of the forces of nature to protect him and he releases his remaining store of energy in the form of a bolt of energy from the moon of Oearth itself and it strikes Dragotha dead between it’s glowing green eyes.
Suddenly they fade slightly as Dragotha's form stumbles back, out of control it falls from its perched ledge into a pile prone on the floor. Jack can feel the powers within the dragon reeling in fear of ultimate destruction and raging at its new predicament. Running out of his cave to grab the body of the bugbear suddenly the retreating trio re-appears around Brendolf’s body on the ledge. As Brendolf reaches down to grab the bugbear and Vardoom automatically begins casting from the scroll they realize the new situation, and Dragotha’s current weakness. Vardoom drops the scroll and calls to Heironeous for power as he calls down his most powerful spell of healing and reaches out and touches the twitching bone body; it reels as the positive energy disrupts its essence further. Byron, reeling from the worm infestation in his body falls to the ground but the Heironeous shines his light on yet again and heals the fallen knight. Santana and Jack add their remaining small but effective bursts of power into the Dracolich, breaking bone, tearing cartilage and taking away its spiritual ties to its body.
Under the combined power of the remaining group they crush the body of Dragotha to dust, a silent wail emits from its mouth as the burning lights in its sockets fade to nonexistence. The eon old dracolich finally dies its last death and its soul, with no phylactery to return to, disperses to the reaches of the unknown. The remaining of the scattered winds stand next to their fallen looking on the dead creature in wonder. Feeling a sigh of peace and release as Balakard leaves them a final time as well they look over to the hoard of Dragotha and wonder if it has all finally come to an end.