OOC - What direction is the Aasmirian running?

As Jayson tried chat with them, he tried to get a since of which way he was going.

Quote from Cwreando >>

OOC - What direction is the Aasmirian running?

As Jayson tried chat with them, he tried to get a since of which way he was going.

 ((They’re running towards the town. Due west/towards the bottom of the map. [Top of map is east]. For Jayson it’s the opposite direction to the goblins

I believe you’ve moved 30 feet towards the goblins and they’ve moved 60 feet in the opposite direction so you’re now 90 feet apart.)) 

Jayson somewhat relieved that the Aasmiris. Is moving further away from combat.  Jayson refocuses on the battle at hand. “Let’s get em folks. Stay alert.”

Jayson looks around and upward to look things over.

mobile post so no formatting 

Alaina's arrows find their mark. Her mind moves quicker than even her quick fingers. As the first arrow is drawn, she is planning the second. By the time the second arrow is in the air towards the falling corpse of the Goblin Boss, she is already searching the sky. 

It is not uncommon, amongst fish, for their bellies to be a paler, bluey-white colour, while their top is the darker blue of the deep ocean. Whether prey or predator, it allows them to keep the eyes of others from spotting them quite so easily. Dragons, it seems, are quite the same way.

Until your eyes are able to track the movement of its wings, the underbelly of the dragon blends into the snowing cloud cover that it has created. In a blizzard, perhaps even its wings would be disguised in flurries of ice and howling winds.  

Dragons are clever enough to know when they're spotted.

With Alaina's bow tracking up towards it, with Sildar's call and the spinning of his guardsman to track this new dangerous foe, the dragon gives up the ambush and pursues terror. It announces its swoop with a tremendous roar. 

Before its roar, the battle continues apace. The Goblin Sniper riding atop the Spider that Lorken dismembered leaps towards the Goblin Boss, arriving only to see its leader's body sprout arrows and collapse, gurgling, to the floor. A Swarm of tiny Spiders burst from the Huge Broodspider that carried them and swarms over Lorken biting and stinging at any flesh they can get to. 

Lorken takes 1 piercing damage (accounting for Piercing resistance) and 2 poison damage. 

Too Many Legs. The swarm mobs a creature in their space and attaches to them. When the swarm takes damage other than psychic damage, the attached creature also takes half as much damage. The attached creature has disadvantage on attacks against creatures other than the swarm, and attacks against the attached creature have advantage.

While attached, the swarm can’t attack another target. The attached creature or another creature who can reach them can shake off the swarm and detach them as an action. The swarm can detach by spending 5 feet of their movement.

The Dragon lands with its maw wide open, softly for its great bulk, the practiced landing of an apex predator. It does what Dragons do, unleashing a torrent of breath as its greatest weapon, and goblins die and ice crystals form on their eyes, their limbs, turned to crystaline corpses even as you watch. The Goblin Sniper dies, the Goblin Lackey atop the spider dies. The spider does its best to escape in fear, limbs partially frozen, but dazed as it is from Capone's attack it cannot dodge the pounce of the dragon who then swipes its claws lightly at the huge spiders legs, not hitting hard enough to do any damage. 

The Dragon gives a chuffing laugh. It is playing with its food. 

With the death of their boss, and the arrival of this overwhelming new foe, the goblins break. Those who are quickest start to flee. Those who are slower turn to begin to run. 

((MAP))

 It is Broma and Gudrune up. 

I've got Broma's Arcane roll (14) Capone (9) Jayson (7), and Lorken's Nature roll (4), Alaina (8). If the rest of you can choose one of either a Nature, Arcana, or History check, or Tinker’s Tools proficiency, I'll tell you knowledge relating to this dragon and recent times in Phandelver as appropriate. 

Capone with a (9) Arcana probably doesn't know much.

Jayson rolled in the game log 1+6=7 arcana

Nature?: 20 (History and Arcana and tinker tools are the same)

Jayson says to his new friends, “ I’m concerned about the Aasimaria. Now that I think about it.  There’s a prisoner there that might be in league with the goblin/dragon and he may be on more trouble if the dragon moves on the town to rescue the prisoner our just start attacking it.”

mobile post.

Rather than react in fear or surprise at this new grand development, the researcher of CRO can only feel delight in witnessing such a marvel of flesh and bone. "Fascinating! Simply fascinating!" His mind whirs with grand thoughts of biopsying such a beautiful beast. Even as he finds himself woefully unmatched to such a grand terror, his thoughts turn not to self preservation, but study. How might one remove the scales or pierce its flesh? What secrets could its blood and tissue unveil? How might the secrets its brain carries be unlocked post-mortem? Or perhaps, with the right prodding, ante-mortem...? Regardless, he can't do anything if he were to die. He holds his position for the time being, watching, waiting, reading to run at a moment's notice...!

Watching the dragon obliterate goblins and spider alike in one fell swoop, Capone finally activates the telepathic connection he established earlier,  and silently asks the Aasimar "Is the dragon after you too!?"

Broma watches and waits, ready. Though dragons are not his major focus of study, he recalls some small things about them (though that this dragon has a preference for the magic of ice and cold seems painfully apparent now). 

Arcana 10 (14):

The magic of dragons varies with with their colour, as does their preferred natural habitat. Dragons are uniquely non-planar creatures. Though they may live wherever they like, on any plane they choose, they are tied to the material plane and its echoes. Ley lines in living form, dragons are a growing knot of material magic, somehow stable and able to swell in power as they age. Something else is just on the tip of your tongue, something less well known, and your memory is keen, but perhaps it was nothing you heard within the last month. 

Dragons may naturally come to possess spells in keeping with the aspect of magic they wield. The dragon in front of you may already wield Gust of Wind or Shape Water.

Capone's mind touches upon the Aasimar's, and asks his innocent question. 

Gudrune floats over to Lorken and uses an action to sweep off the swarm of spiders. She uses action surge to make a melee attack against the swarm. (Natural 1 for an 11 to hit... wow. 19 slashing, if it hits). 

She eyes the dragon, wondering if it could speak... (HISTORY: Natural 20. What is this roller coaster?)

Quote from petessius >>

Gudrune floats over to Lorken and uses an action to sweep off the swarm of spiders. She uses action surge to make a melee attack against the swarm. (Natural 1 for an 11 to hit... wow. 19 slashing, if it hits). 

She eyes the dragon, wondering if it could speak... (HISTORY: Natural 20. What is this roller coaster?)

Gudrune sweeps the spiders from Lorken's fur and skin with a few brushes of her Large hand. Size is not always an advantage however. The tiny spiders that comprise the swarm are hard to catch with a greataxe, and a great slash from on high catches perhaps one, perhaps none at all. A great gout of loam is sent launching in proof of a sincere and effortful strike. 

Gudrune then takes a look at the frills and spines of the great dragon that toys with the great spider and runs roughshod over dead goblins. Its scales refract like stars in the light that makes it through the cloud cover and the snow, as do the three broken shackles that encircle its ankles, and the collar that surrounds its neck. 

Her stomach sinks as her mind denies what her heart already knows. 

Here? In Phandalin? How?

But Gudrune is as certain of the dragon's identity as she is of her own. She is the hero of Bryn Shandar, and she was there, two years ago, when the great mammoth horn of Drufi rang out and the frost giants attacked her erstwhile home in search of the Ring of Winter on the order of Jarl Storvald. She knows of Cryovain, his blackmailed pet Rake, and its mate Isendraug. Where one goes, the other is sure to be. 

Many are the sleepless nights Gudrune enjoyed, after weeks pouring over the capabilities of the frost giant Jarl and his dragons. Now, leagues upon leagues from the north, she finds the knowledge at the front of her mind, easily recalled. The civil war that roused the slumbering giants might be over but it seems she cannot escape the consequences of that war, nor can the rest of the sword coast. 

She runs through old plans for different environments with more tools and readies her axe. Perhaps... perhaps they will simply eat the spider and leave. Perhaps Cryovain will need encouragement. 

History DC 10 (20):

On the whole, white dragons do not care to deal with creatures beneath them; white dragons take what they want and kill what they wish, leaving the tedious games of power and subjugation to their more socially-inclined kin.  

Settlements established in harsh climes favored by white dragons thus tend to remain mobile, ready to move on if their area is claimed by one, as the ferocity of a white dragon is something feared even by those with the strength to defeat one. 

History DC 15 (20): 

Despite their characteristic disinterest in scholarship, white dragons are thought to have an eidetic memory, allowing them to vividly recollect minute details of a chance encounter for centuries, and to unerringly exact vengeance upon those that trespass against them. 

The Goblin Spinecleaver takes the opportunity to flee as quickly as it can towards the south. The Goblin Lackey near the tree similarly heads for the treeline again. 

Sildar and his guardsmen hold their fire for now, waiting tensely. 

The start of Round 5:

Alaina, Jayson, Lorken, and Capone are up again. 

Alaina readies an action to fire her bow at the dragon if it attacks anyone in the party.  (Sheet: AC 30, 11 Damage)

Capone realizes that so far, the dragon has only attacked their enemies. He swiftly converts the latent magical energies in his core for easier use, readying himself to deliver a disorienting Mind Sliver if the dragon turns hostile towards him or his new adventurer allies.

Maintaining his telepathic connection with the Aasimar, Capone's curiosity deepens. "What exactly is happening here?" he asks, his voice tinged with intrigue. "If you know not the dragon... Can you give me more details about the goblin's motives, or if this has anything to do with Iarno/Glass-staff/Albrek?"

As he continues the mental conversation, his ocular panes shift, keeping a vigilant watch on the battlefield and the dragon's movements. He is as still as a statue, affixed as he is upon Gudrune's shoulder, except his beard that blows majestically in the frigid breeze.

(BA: Convert 3rd level spell into SP)
(Action: Ready mind sliver at the dragon. Trigger: It becomes hostile or attacks us)

Capone realizes that so far, the dragon has only attacked their enemies. He swiftly converts the latent magical energies in his core for easier use, readying himself to deliver a disorienting Mind Sliver if the dragon turns hostile towards him or his new adventurer allies.

Maintaining his telepathic connection with the Aasimar, Capone's curiosity deepens. "What exactly is happening here?" he asks, his voice tinged with intrigue. "If you know not the dragon... Can you give me more details about the goblin's motives, or if this has anything to do with Iarno/Glass-staff/Albrek?"

As he continues the mental conversation, his ocular panes shift, keeping a vigilant watch on the battlefield and the dragon's movements. He is as still as a statue, affixed as he is upon Gudrune's shoulder, except his beard that blows majestically in the frigid breeze.

(BA: Convert 3rd level spell into SP)
(Action: Ready mind sliver at the dragon. Trigger: It becomes hostile or attacks us)

Jayson is soooooooo much of two minds at the moment thinking, 

 Jayson makes a choice, "You folks deal with the dragon..I'll go protect the Aasimarian and try and make sure things don't get too out of hand in town with the prisoner."

Jayson bolts after the Aasimarian 30ft, 30 ft dash.

Jayson says, "Aasimarian, I can help you. Wait for me."

persuasion  Roll 12 in game log

Lorken flashes a grin of acknowledgement up at Gudrune, then starts bashing the swarm of spiders into mush.

Action: Attack

Attack 1 (Great Weapon Master): To Hit 19, 22 Slashing Damage

Attack 2: (Great Weapon Master): To Hit 4...

"Die, you skittering pests!"

Capone's message reaches the aasimar's mind. 

The Aasimar shakes his head as if to ward off errant bugs, as he runs for his life. He is barely 30 feet from Sildar Hallwinter, and the first ruined stone buildings of old Phandalin. "Run! Run, Harper, if my eyes do not deceive me," he calls backward. "You can help no one dead! We must flee!"

The dragon, the goblins, the aasimar, the snow, the chaos. Lorken has been to stranger places. It's not clear, in fact, whether he has even noticed the newest combatant. This is unfortunate for the tiny swarm of spiders, and he hacks them to pieces, slashing and stamping until they have all fled or died in the long grass. 

Cryovain rips two bitter claws through the abdomen of the spider, spilling the brood swarm within its hidden egg sac directly into the dragon's mouth. It works quickly, to shuck the blades from the spider's legs, like a fishwife with a fillet knife at market -- long experience making itself known -- before separating the head from the abdomen and swallowing it. 

The dragon goes to secure the legs and abdomen of the spider in its jaw for easier carrying, but before it does its head turns to the warriors assembled across the field. The fleeing goblins are clearly beneath Cryovain's interest. Its eyes lock onto Gudrune, the largest warrior present. Its head turns towards the distant mountains. Then back to Gudrune, then to the spider. 

Clearly, it is facing a dilemma, its eyes unusually expressive for a dragon (perhaps). 

It is asking itself a question. 

Broma and Gudrune's turn to finish the round. 

There is still one Caponed Spider hiding in a tree. It does nothing. The goblins are all fleeing. 

He wants to study it. Every investigative fiber of his being practically demands it. Alas...

The beast is well beyond his means to "study" at the moment. Broma disengages and begins to retreat, cautiously, back to the township.