Game summary for January 3, 2008; present characters included Chuck Ahammer (shield dwarf master thrower/rogue/thunderthrower), Eolas Windmaster (moon elf duskblade), Grim Firestorm (shield dwarf barbarian/battlerager/frenzied berserker/warmain), Iapetus Hasur (hu-charad giant rogue/scout/vigilante), Lady Aridarye Phylund Brokengulf (human aristocrat/harbinger/ranger cohort), Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/ring sage/warmage), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), Syvarius Strongbow (moon elf archer-ranger/peerless archer), and Taravin Truesilver (human gray guard/paladin of honor/pious templar).
The party’s sudden, invisible, appearance on the ledge was instantly noted by an equally invisible fang dragon of immense proportions. It moved toward the party and blasted everyone with chain lightning. Thinking quickly, Lyrin blocked its progress with a prismatic wall. The dragon surprised the group, however, by using teleport to end up pinning them between the wall and itself. Lyrin dismissed the wall.
Aridarye attempted to bolster her allies with a good hope, but she was too close to the dragon, and it landed a critical bite. In addition, its bite appeared to drain her life force away, leaving a tattered, discarded carcass on the ground. Eolas used dispel magic to drop the invisible cloak the dragon had thrown over its form. Iapetus, Grim, and Taravin bravely surrounded the dragon and worked to batter at it, but its defenses of mirror image and displacement, as well as its tremendously strong scales, proved too much for them to regularly overcome. Syvarius laboriously plinked away with arrows, landing one or two here or there. Eolas began a serious regiment of dispelling attempts, slowly whittling down the dragon’s wards. Meanwhile, Lyrin and Morak cast spell after spell; although, they proceeded cautiously after seeing Eolas’ polar ray turned back on him. The dwarven rogue, Chuck, steadily bashed away with his throwing hammers. Although he did not deal much damage per hit, he consistently harmed the dragon.
The three melee fighters found themselves in a difficult situation. The dragon sundered Grim’s axe, and he had no backup weapon. He spent the remainder of the fight in a frenzy trying to punch the beast. All three were repeatedly caught by the dragon’s claws and tail and hurled violently to the ground. Eventually, they managed to flank the dragon, which allowed the rogues to land a couple of serious shots. The spellcasters remained frustrated due to all the dragon’s wards and its ability to evade area of effects. They still hammered at the creature, but the process was slow.
The party thought for a moment they had driven the dragon off when they recognized it was casting a teleport. Much to their surprise, it used the spell to position itself in the midst of the casters. They scattered and fell back, and Lyrin found himself isolated from the group. The dragon quickly took advantage and charged the warmage. A critical hit from the wyrm’s bite killed Lyrin instantly. Now some distance from the group, the party prepared for the dragon to pivot around and charge back toward them. Curses erupted from the team when the dragon instead snatched up Lyrin and fled via magic, taking the simian’s magical horde for its own.
Battered, bloodied, and down several allies, the Mercenaries retreated into the cover of a giant dwelling and walled themselves in. They now seek to rest and gain the prayers needed to bring their fallen back from the dead. What will transpire in Kongen-Thulnir during their 8-hour “time out”?
