CH. 16 - Resistance

[HorizonsDream]

"Aside from healing, is there anything else you can do about this dragon?" Kendra asks. She continues to protect William at this point as she doesn't know what else she can do.

[TristenC]

Grubnick rushes the items over to Haaque; tne only other person around who he thought he recalled using arcane magic. Magnus and Tulbas had these. I dont know what they are, but maybe the bracers can protect you, and the other things might be useful.

The goblin moves a few feet away and gazes at the gargantuan monstrosity of death hovering above them. His heart sinks for a moment. Until now, he had been able to do something... able to help in some way... but with the beast so far above and his prayers nearly depleted he felt... almost helpless. Just as he had at first when Delharn had been captured; not recently, but so long ago. Those tales Delharn had told him, while yet chained to the wall of the goblin cave. When the Dwarf had been caught snd without resource, all that had been left to him was his faith... A faith that ultimately delivered him from that goblin imprisonment...

Grubnick's lowered his head and squeezed his eyes shut, a single tear leaking out for the loss of his mentor and other friends. In a quiet voice, barely audible even were someone stading beside him, the goblin cleric whispered his earnest prayer. Sirrion... Firemaster... Grand Alchemist... I beg you, hear your servant's prayer. The hapless destruction of the Dragon Queen has tipped the scales far out of balance. I pray, lend us your aid in our hour of need that we might free this city from her oppression and enter a new age of growth and creativity ad restore faith in the old gods.

Quietly he makes a sign with his hands and gazes one more upon the dragon.

[Haahque]

Haahqae looks down at the items dumped infront of him. On one hand it’s fairly impressive that they survived the dragon breath. Certainly they’re enhanced with magical durability. But on the other hand none of them protected their previous wearers against the dragon’s breath; or they wouldn’t be dead now would they?

Normally Haahqae would love to have the opertunity to examine such artifacts and figure out how they work; what mechanisms through arcane or scientific allow them such extraordinary powers and resilience. But normally Haahqae isn’t face to face with a city destroying cold hearted monster that’s sworn to kill him and everyone else in the process.

“Thanks, but I’m a bit busy right now. This isn’t as easy as it looks.” Haahqae mumbles as he knocks another arrow. Why don’t you try hitting a small target on a fast moving creature as it’s trying to kill you and see how easy it is!

(Action: Aimed shots x2 at the dragon’s wounds)

[JadedDM]

"Trust me, if I did, I would be using it now," William assures her. He puts a hand on her shoulder and prays to Paladine to protect her.

Gobax prays for Sirrion to intervene personally on this matter, but there is no response. Either Sirrion's attention is focused elsewhere at the moment, or he doesn't want to risk Takhisis' wrath by getting directly involved.

Meanwhile, Haahqae, Pen and Fiona continue to pelt the dragon with stones and arrows. And Pen gets a lucky hit, striking Inferno right through the right wing, tearing it. Roaring in outrage, the dragon unleashes another blast of flame which instantly incinerates the kender, before being forced back to the ground. The entire earth shakes when he lands.

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Initiative Order
Kendra: 2+5 = 7
William: 3+4 = 7
Fiona: 4+7 = 11
Haahqae: 5+7 = 12
Gobax: 7+5 = 12
Miriam: 10+4 = 14
Pen: 10+7 = 17
Inferno: 5+12 = 17

Round 6!

Kendra continues to protect William.
William casts Protection from Evil on Kendra for 18 rounds.
Fiona fires a sheaf arrow from her short bow with great aim (+1 hit) and Paladine's blessing (+1 hit) at Inferno [TH 24] (1d20+2): 18+2 = 20, miss.
Haahqae makes a called shot (-4 hit) with great aim (+2 hit) with Paladine's blessing (+1 hit) at Inferno's wounds [TH 18] (1d20-1): 10-1 = 9, miss.
Gobax prays for divine intervention (1d100): 44, fail.
Miriam remains in total defense.
Pen slings a stone in his sithak with Paladine's blessing (+1 hit) at Inferno [TH 24] (1d20+1): 20+1 = 21, critical hit! for (4d6): 6,2,6,3 = 17 damage.
Inferno breathes a gout of flame at Pen (14d10+7): 4,6,8,7,4,5,8,10,9,6,7,9,8,10 = 110 damage. Pen saves vs. breath weapon [16] (1d20): 12, fail. Pen takes 110 damage and dies instantly. Inferno then lands.
Fiona fires a sheaf arrow from her short bow with great aim (+1 hit) while blessed (+1 hit) at Inferno [TH 24] (1d20+2): 10+2 = 9, miss.
Haahqae makes a called shot (-4 hit) with great aim (+2 hit) with Paladine's blessing (+1 hit) at Inferno's eye [TH 18] (1d20-1): 7-1 = 6, miss.

(OOC: Actions for Round 7?)

[HorizonsDream]

"Pen!" Kendra cries out as the kender is incinerated by the dragon. Now that the dragon is on the ground again, Kendra perhaps stupidly rushes the dragon to attack him again with her two swords.

[TristenC]

gobax will throw sling stones at the dragon, aiming for open wounds away from where Kendra is.

[Haahque]

Seeing the one person lucky enough to land a shot on the dragon get incinerated completely and immediately gives Haahqae pause when he considers his course of action next. Instead he quickly mumbles "Thanks" and scurries to find a hiding spot where he can put on the bracers of probably-not-enough-to-save-him.

(Put on the bracers, move to hide, and if he still has enough actions on his turn; shoot at the dragon)

[JadedDM]

With the dragon back on the ground, Kendra, William and Miriam all rush forward to attack it, but to no avail. Gobax and Fiona, likewise, have similar luck with their projectiles. Gobax realizes that was his last stone, and now he's out of them.

Haahqae, meanwhile, grabs the bracers and tries to strap them on. They didn't save Magnus, but he hopes they'll save him. They are made for human arms, but once he gets them on, they shrink down to his size. Then he looks for a place to hide. As he does so, he spots something. There is a gap in the ring of fire, just large enough for a person to squeeze through. With his invisibility, he could get past the draconians on the other side. Sure, this would mean he would be leaving the others to die, but at least he would live another day.

The dragon, meanwhile, continues his assault on the party as his fire breath recharges. He slashes his claws at William and Kendra, then bites at Miriam. He also summons a large orb of fire and mentally rolls it toward Fiona, who is able to dodge it before it hits her.

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Initiative Order
Kendra: 2+5 = 7
William: 3+4 = 7
Haahqae: 5+3 = 8
Fiona: 4+7 = 11
Gobax: 7+6 = 13
Miriam: 10+4 = 14
Inferno: 5+12 = 17

Round 7!

Kendra slashes her elven sword (+2 hit/dmg) with great skill (+1 hit/+2 dmg) under Paladine's blessing (+1 hit) at Inferno [TH 22] (1d20+4): 16+4 = 20, miss. She then slashes her masterwork sword (+1 hit/dmg) with great skill (+1 hit/+2 dmg) under Paladine's blessing (+1 hit) at Inferno [TH 22] (1d20+3): 4+3 = 7, miss.
William slashes his magic long sword (+2 hit/dmg) at Inferno under Paladine's blessing (+1 hit) [TH 24] (1d20+3): 10+3 = 13, miss.
Haahqae puts on the bracers.
Fiona fires a sheaf arrow from her short bow with great aim (+1 hit) and Paladine's blessing (+1 hit) at Inferno [TH 24] (1d20+2): 19+2 = 21, miss.
Gobax slings a stone with excellent aim (+2 hit) under Paladine's blessing (+1 hit) at Inferno [TH 24] (1d20+3): 2+3 = 5, miss.
Miriam slashes her magical long sword (+1 hit/dmg) with great strength (+1 hit/dmg) and skill (+1 hit/+2 dmg) under Paladine's blessing (+1 hit) [TH 21] (1d20+4): 3+4 = 7, miss.
Inferno slashes with his right claw at Kendra in studded leather (-2 hit) while she is protected from evil (-2 hit) [TH 0] (1d20-4): 17-4 = 13, hit for (1d10): 2 damage. He then slashes with his left claw at William in chain mail (-2 hit) [TH 3] (1d20-2): 13-2 = 11, hit for (1d10): 9 damage. William is now seriously wounded. Inferno then bites at Miriam with her magic shield (-2 hit) [TH 2] (1d20-2): 8-2 = 6, hit for (3d10): 8,6,4 = 18 damage. Miriam is now near death. Inferno casts Flaming Sphere at Fiona. Fiona saves vs. spell (1d20): 15, pass. She takes no damage.
Fiona fires a sheaf arrow from her short bow with great aim (+1 hit) while blessed (+1 hit) at Inferno [TH 24] (1d20+2): 7+2 = 9, miss.
Bless spell ends.

(OOC: Actions for Round 8?)

[TristenC]

Grubnick attacks Inferno with his mace, but standing some distance away from the others so the dragon wont be able to catch him and another ally in his flame breath

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra continues her attack on Inferno with her swords.

[BishGada]

Have Tulbas survived he would feel sorry for his friends. His heart would ache at the death of Pen. He have already lost few friends and his uncle. But then again Magnus is dead. That is at least one comfort and hopefully Inferno will join him in the underworld.

[Haahque]

(OoC: With the bless spell over, it now doesn’t matter if Haahqae uses well placed shots into vulnerable parts or tries to bounce arrows off 2 walls before hitting the dragon in its little toe)

Amidst the horror of the battlefield, Haahqae spies a way out, where he could slip away and vanish into the night and not have to deal with this terrible monster that the ill prepared resistance angered with their terrible plan, and maybe THEY deserve to die for their stupidity; but Haahqae certainly doesn’t, since if it were up to him; he would have come up with a much better plan, taking more time if needed, and wouldn’t have gotten everyone killed like this.

All factors point to Haahqae taking the opportunity to escape except the dragon. In it’s fury the dragon had mentioned something about burning the city to the ground and everyone in it. Which is quite a bit of an overreaction and is both contrary to Haahqae’s survival in the city should he escape and quite a bit more unnecessary death then he would want as a result of this. Something about how the dragon’s carrying itself; falling to the ground climsily with what looks like a limp; suggests to Haahqae that it’s barely able to continue fighting with the wounds it’s received so far; and maybe, just maybe one more arrow could be the needle that broke the dragon’s back.
But Haahqae’s not alone in this fight, so he has to save those he holds dear first of all.

There’s an escape route over there. Go, find your way underground incase the dragon tries to burn the city down. Then get out of the city if you can. If I survive; you’ll know, and we’ll find eachother again. If I die; find Ismene and tell her all that happened here.

With that said, and Haahqae mentally pointing out the escape route to his famillar; he takes a deep breath and aims two more arrows; one at the dragon’s throat; one at its heart. If he’s going to kill this beast; he’s going to have to hit something vital.

[JadedDM]

The battle rages on, but nobody is able to actually harm the dragon this round. The flaming sphere circles back around, and this time it does strike Fiona, causing her to cry out in pain.

'I cannot,' Miracle replies to Haahqae. 'The spell you cast bonded our souls into one. If you die, I die. If we are separated, I will die. So I will see this through to the end with you, one way or another!'

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Initiative Order
Kendra: 2+5 = 7
William: 3+4 = 7
Fiona: 4+7 = 11
Haahqae: 5+7 = 12
Gobax: 7+7 = 14
Miriam: 10+4 = 14
Inferno: 5+12 = 17

Round 8!

Kendra slashes her elven sword (+2 hit/dmg) with great skill (+1 hit/+2 dmg) at Inferno [TH 22] (1d20+3): 14+3 = 17, miss. She then slashes her masterwork sword (+1 hit/dmg) with great skill (+1 hit/+2 dmg) at Inferno [TH 22] (1d20+3): 15+2 = 17, miss.
William slashes his magic long sword (+2 hit/dmg) at Inferno [TH 24] (1d20+3): 19+2 = 21, miss.
Fiona fires a sheaf arrow from her short bow with great aim (+1 hit) at Inferno [TH 24] (1d20+1): 16+1 = 17, miss.
Haahqae fires a sheaf arrow from his short bow with great aim (+2 hit) at Inferno [TH 24] (1d20+2): 11+2 =13, miss.
Gobax swings his mace at Inferno [TH 24] (1d20): 6, miss.
Miriam slashes her magical long sword (+1 hit/dmg) with great strength (+1 hit/dmg) and skill (+1 hit/+2 dmg) at Inferno [TH 21] (1d20+3): 11+3 = 14, miss.
Inferno slashes with his right claw at Kendra in studded leather (-2 hit) while she is protected from evil (-2 hit) [TH 0] (1d20-4): 10-4 = 6, hit for (1d10): 7 damage. He then slashes with his left claw at William in chain mail (-2 hit) [TH 3] (1d20-2): 2-2 = 0, miss. Inferno then bites at Miriam with her magic shield (-2 hit) [TH 2] (1d20-2): 2-2 = 0, miss. Inferno moves the Flaming Sphere at Fiona. Fiona saves vs. spell (1d20): 12, fail. She takes (2d4): 2,3 = 5 damage. Fiona becomes seriously wounded.
Fiona fires a sheaf arrow from her short bow with great aim (+1 hit) at Inferno [TH 24] (1d20+2): 3+1 = 4, miss.
Haahqae fires a sheaf arrow from his short bow with great aim (+2 hit)at Inferno [TH 24] (1d20+2): 6+2 = 8, miss.

(OOC: Actions for Round 9?)

[Haahque]

Haahqae fires 2 more arrows at Inferno.

[TristenC]

Grubnick attacks again