Patagogi came rushing out of the cave being almost the last of them to exit.  He knew he needed to get into range of the dragon but still keep a distance from the others so he moved to attack at I6 knowing the dragon may be able to hit him as he approached.  Patagogi with his song loud struck the dragon.  The spirits in Patagogi's wake also struck and damaged the dragon.

Crit confirmed on his blade strike for 29 damage.  Crit not confirmed for lesser spirits for 4 necrotic damage.
18:59, Today: Patagogi rolled 26,15,24,5 using d20+12,2d4+8,d20+7,d4+3.  crit check.
18:58, Today: Patagogi rolled 32,14,27,4 using d20+12,2d4+8,d20+7,d4+3

If you accept my inspiring rage you get the following:



AC24 for me.

 Shapash advised the position of the dragon, and with no one yet engaged in melee, decided to through some noxious fumes of her own… a little pellet of sulphur later, and a cloud of pestilence rose around the green creature, engulfing her in nauseating smells.

 The young efreet then dashed to an other bush, trying to wipe remnants of acid off her clothes.

---

Cast Stinking Cloud, centred just left of the dragon so as not to catch anyone else.
Dragon succeeds SR but I realised it doesn’t apply.
Dragon falls fortitude save DC 18 and is nauseated
Duration is as long as it remains inside, and 5 rounds after.
Move: take cover on S3

Rik Closes a little closer to his allies and then calls out to the spirits to bless Delfrydydd's aim. He follows up with a wordless rhythmic chant to empower the blessing further. "I tried, but it's only so easy to burn a dragon! Give it to her Del!"

OOC:
Automatic: Life Link Erisen, and Sap Heal 6, Rik takes 6 Mort Takes 4
Mort Automatic: Fast heals 2 HP

5ft step to I11
Standard: Fortune on Del (2 rounds w/ chant)
Move: Chant

As the dragon reeled from the sudden blindness inflicted by Delfrydydd's expert shot, Erisen seized the moment. His instincts kicked in, blurring across the terrain and putting a strategic distance between himself and Vercetorix. Landing in a more secure location, Erisen wasted no time and began to weave a new spell, his voice rising in the incantation that would call forth another ally from the ether. "From the void's cold embrace, I summon thee to..."

OOC:
  Swift: Stagger-proof boots to O11.
  Full-round: Start casting summon monster iii, losing fly.

Slowed by her armor, Audrey did her best to follow Patagogi's advance, hurling a magical nail at the dragon as she did.  A bit less lucky than Patagogi's strike had been, the nail simply bounced off the dragon's hide.

Vercetorix howled in surprise and fury as the party's initial assault left her blinded, wounded, and choking on rancid vapors.  Her draconic arrogance vanished in a moment, replaced with desperate survival instinct.  Leaping away from her attackers, the green dragon soared through the forest, her airspeed impressive despite her weakened state.  As Vercetorix flew blindly through the forest, the trees themselves bend and wavered to get out of her way, as though acknowledging the dragon's sovereignty over her hunting grounds.

OOC: Yellow Circle is stinking cloud, Green circles are trees.  Tree squares are difficult terrain and provide cover.

Audrey
MOVE: Move to H6, draw stubborn nail
STANDARD: Throw stubborn nail.

VERCETORIX
MOVE: fly to L-N, -(12-14), +10' up.  This provokes an AoO from Patagogi vs AC 26
REACTION: Make will save vs glitterdust, and stop being blinded.

On the one hand, Shapash was happy her spell had made the dragon stick and vulnerable. On the other, she felt stupid for making the battlefield so impractical for her allies. This was their first property battle together, and she clearly wanted to impress.

The young efreet dashed after the giant creature, ready to cast a new spell… but tripped and fell out in the open, maybe sixty or so feet from her target…

Maybe she was not yet used to the celerity provided by the haste spell… or maybe she had dropped to the ground on purpose.

 Was it a hustle? Was she goading the nauseated dragon to attack?

Move: move to S-2 (60ft)
Free: drop prone
Standard: ready action (cast a spell when dragon gets within 40ft)

Flying after the dragon, Del pressed their advantage. Opting to imbue his musket with a portion of his magic as he pursued Vercetorix.

Leveling off at a slightly higher altitude, Del lined up the musket and fired off his round, "Ystyr geiriau Rhewi!". The impact reverberating through the green dragon as frost spread across their scales.

---

OOC:
Move: G5 +25' to G-6 + 40"
Free: Spell Cartridges
Standard: SpellStrike (spell cartridges & snowball): Hit touch AC 18, 24 damage (7 force, 17 cold)
  Snowball Will save DC 18: 17, failed!

11:56, Today: Delfrydydd rolled 18,7,17 using 1d20+12,2d4+3,5d6.  ranged spell strike, spell cartridge+snowball touch ac 8.
11:57, Today: Delfrydydd rolled 17 using 1d20+12.  will vs snowball, dc 18.

As the dragon flew away from him, Patagogi tried to swipe at the thing but missed with his blade.  The thing flew too far away for him to do anything at this time so he cast a spell and suddenly 3 identical; images of him appeared around him.  With a hoot and a howl with his song strong he ran off after the dragon.

Cast Mirror image
Patagogi rolled 3 using 1d4.
move to D/-3

Audrey grumbled at the Dragon flying so far away as she moved towards it but didn't full charge the beast, she wanted to be close enough to draw its ire but not far enough to be completely separated. She seriously considered at least trying to hit the thing with another nail but decided instead to defend herself and ready for the inevitable fight.

"Of course the damned lizard is a smart coward"

Move: Move (Hasted) to I -3. I don't see any tree's in the way to be difficult but if so just stop me at the full 50ft (I -2, I-1, etc)
Standard: Total Defense (+4 Dodge bonus to AC for 1 round)

Rik takes to the sky again to follow Delfrydydd, the man's musket seemed to be their best weapon against the dragon so far and it did not due to let his blessing on him lapse. He continued his wordless throaty chant "UMMMM AHHH DUUUUMMMM AHHH DOOOO" as he flew through the air.

OOC:
Automatic: Just Mort's fast healing.

Move: Fly to I-1 (maybe H0 if I need to scoot around the gas?)
Move: Chant (Del's Fortune lasts another round.)

As Vercetorix fled into the forest, Erisen completed the summoning of a howler. The beast materialized with a ferocious howl, its presence formidable. Together, they surged forward, closing the distance between themselves and the retreating dragon with determined strides. In the heat of the chase, Erisen cast another spell, his words shaping the fabric of reality around the howler. The creature's form twisted and expanded, morphing into an oversized spider in mere moments. Without hesitation, the newly formed spider aimed and launched a thick spit of web toward Vercetorix, hoping to trap her. The web sailed through the air and missed, landing harmlessly among the trees.

OOC:

Erisen:
  Free: Finish summon monster iii, conjuring an augmented howler at Q-R/3-4.
  Move: Move to Q0.
  Standard: Cast alter summoned monster, turning the howler into a Giant Giant Spider.

Howler:
  Move: Move to N-O/-(7-6).

Spider:
  Standard: Web attack vs Vercetorix, misses.

Roll:
  Erisen rolled 4 using 1d20+1.  Web Attack (3rd increment) vs Touch

"I WILL FLAY YOU ALIVE FOR THIS, YOU DAMNED DIRTY APES!"  The dragon howled as Delfrydydd shot her again, nearly incoherent with fury.  Still retching from Shapash' gas attack, she turned away and swooped off into the trees.  Even with their magical speed, the party would be hard pressed to catch up to a green dragon in her home forest, but the anger in her voice indicated that they wouldn't have to.  Vercetorix would be back for revenge, and very soon at that.

OOC:  Vercetorix can cover 200' in a single move action, and can fly through trees without slowing down.  I'm assuming the party can't do anything to her at this point (Correct me if I'm wrong, of course), so we're going to briefly drop out of combat.  The party has a couple minutes before the dragon catches her breath and comes back.  I need everyone to tell me what (if any) actions they take in that time, what position they are in when the dragon returns, and to roll for both perception and initiative.

VERCETORIX
MOVE: fly to L-N, -(52-54), +10' up.

Rik yells out to his companions "Let's regroup back to the cave!" he chants his wordless murmuring chant again just in case the dragon returned.

Patagogi stopped his raging song for now.  The fact that the dragon fled meant that it was afraid it would lose.  "We can regroup but a lot of our spells will expire.  I am not suggesting we chase it but perhaps we find its hoard and see if there is something of value to defeat it?"

Del followed Vercetorix for only a couple of seconds before he realized he couldn't keep up. Returning to the group around the cave, he let gravity embrace him once more. "That dragon was moving! But yeah, we can check the cave out. We should keep an eye out for Vercetorix for when she returns."

---

15:19, Today: Delfrydydd rolled 13,18 using 1d20+10,1d20+3.  perception, initiative.

  “A capital idea.” Shapash agreed, and dashed to the cave, carefully avoiding the nauseating fumes.

She quickly cast a detect magic spell to ascertain spells, traps, and the direction to the best loot.

"Tsk, makes sense. I'm not sure I agree with all of us looting the hoard though because that's obvious. Maybe we have a few of us like myself that are loud do that while the stealthier ones hide and ready spells? A few summoned monsters behind her would lock the dragon down if it comes in the cave."

Audrey knew now that the Dragon was intelligent, without a trap she doubted they could hold it in place without a few lucky strikes.

Erisen began retreating towards the cave entrance as the enormous spider dissipated into the ether. "I doubt Vercy has any desire to follow us inside," he remarked calmly. Retrieving a vial of shimmering liquid from his cloak, he held it up, eyeing the contents thoughtfully. "The open forest is her domain, her preferred stage," he continued. With a subtle nod, he uncorked the vial and drank its contents in one swift motion. As the liquid took effect, his form began to blur and fade. "I'll watch from the shadows," he said, his voice lingering in the air as his figure melted into invisibility.

OOC:
Perception: 26, Initiative: 23
Drank Potion of Invisibility, Cast Ironskin on self.
Standing at O8.
Erisen rolled 26,23 using d20+12,d20+4.  Perception, Initiative.

The majority of the dragon's hoard was of no use to the party: there were things like gold bullion, marble sculptures, and decorated arms and armor of equal or lesser quality to the gear the group already held in hand.  After a few minutes of searching, they did turn up a few interesting pieces of kit: There was a magical lance whose marking made it clear it was meant to slay dragons (+1 dragon bane lance), as well as a few potions still intact within a gilded reliquary (a potion of protection from acid, and a potion of cure moderate wounds).

As Erisen stood watch outside the cave, he could feel the duration on his potion tick down second by second.  His magical experience had given him a fairly precise internal clock, and he could tell that his three minutes of invisibility were coming to an end.  Just as he was considering his options, a faint rustle in the distance caught his attention.  Peering into the forest, he was just barely able to make out the figure of Vercetorix stalking through the trees towards his position.  She didn't seem to detect him, so the advantage was his.  But whatever he meant to do, he would have to do it fast before his protective invisibility wore off.

OOC: We're not technically back in combat, yet, but we'll be going back to round-by-round actions.

Erisen sees the dragon, though nobody else is aware of it yet.  If Erisen does something like attack or cast a spell, he gets a surprise round (standard action), then we go by initiative order.  If he stays quiet, he can take a full turn and combat won't start until someone does something to alert the dragon.  He has three rounds left on his invisibility potion.

Everyone else can also take a turn, though they don't see the dragon, and the dragon doesn't see them.  Picking up something from the stash is a move action, the only useful items at hand are a +1 dragonbane lance, a potion of protection from energy, and a potion of cure moderate wounds.

VERCETORIX:
FULL: Double move 40' to Q-S,-(17-15), hiding (11 plus distance modifiers, gets spotted by Erisen)

Disappointed, but not surprised, with the results of their search, Del looks at the lance once more then smirks towards Pat and Rik, "I don't suppose either Diamond or Mortimer could wield that from your back... Nah, I didn't think so."

Feeling the passage of time Del made his way back towards the entrance of the cave.

---

move to about E8 or so

Also, think I forgot to mention that Del has loaded another dragon bane alchemical cartridge in the interim.

Patagogi was a bit discouraged by the loot that the dragon had.  Yes, they could use the gold later but now was the more pressing time.  With his buffs almost gone, he moved quickly like the others to the front of the cave mouth again, ready to take it to the dragon once more.

Move to D7

Erisen slowly stepped away from the prowling dragon, his unseen eyes fixed on the verdant beast seamlessly blending into the natural backdrop. He swallowed the urge to deliver an all-too-ready soliloquy meant to draw her out into the spotlight, uncertain if his troupe had finished plundering the hoard. He needed to direct this scene with precision. Damn dragons...

OOC: Move to N14

Rik looks through the treasure with the rest of the party and hefts the lance "I'm not an expert but just about anyone should be able to use one of these pretty well against a dragon. Even without a mount it's a serviceable spear, Audrey or Patagoti would be better with it than me. I have a... scholarly physique."

Feeling a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth he stabs himself in the foot with his spear. Careful not to hit anything important.

OOC
Standard, Stab myself for nonlethal damage and administer a healing potion.
10:32, Today: Rik Feyleaf rolled 17 using 1d8+9 ((8)).

Move, Follow the party to C10

If it's ok and no one else wants it I'll have shouldered the lance in the intervening minutes.

Shapash was in ambush, far from the others as she did not want to make an easy target for the dragon’s acid breath again.

She readied an action to cast a spell on the dragon as soon as she would be in sight. A single clean shot.. that was all she needed.

Move to D4 and hide
This message was last edited by the player at 21:05, Yesterday.

Audrey focused on moving forward with a sigh, the clatter of her armor was obvious and a hint on why she wasn't even trying to hide. She adopted a lazy pose as if she was 'on guard' in the lackadaisical manner of many guards. She would have moved faster but rather wanted the dragon to enter the cave, not just spit her breath inside.

Standard Action: Full Defense (+4 Dodge AC)
Move: Move to -B14
This message was last edited by the player at 06:34, Today.