Ignoring the chilling grip of necrotic magic, which pales in comparison to the pain of the two arrows that lodged between its scales, the dragon continues its dive toward the small stand of trees where Lucky and Dawn attempted to hide. Just when Zanoth though it would come in reach of his spear, the dragon opened its wings arresting its momentum and let out an icy blast of cold death from deep within its bowels. The 30' cone enveloped the entire copse of trees where Lucky was hunkered down. The rest of the Outlanders watched in abject terror as the icy breath shattered the trunks of every tree in the vicinity, instantly killed Lucky's horse, Dawn, and knocked the little man unconscious, all but crystalizing every part of his exposed flesh. Horse and rider both fell over like a toppled statue, and the dragon flapped its wings to stay 30' above the snowy forest floor. Then it looked directly at Zanoth and said, "Don't worrylittle one, there's plenty of room in my belly for all of you!"
[OOC: So, once again Lucky lives up to his name. He made the DC 15 Con save to only take half damage from the breath weapon, which means he only took 26hp damage, not the full 52, which would have killed him outright! As it is, he's at 0hp and dying, but should he receive any healing at all, he's right back up and in the fight. That rule is one of the rules of 5e that lets everyone know that the game leans HARD into favoring player characters over their enemies. :) Dawn the horse is beyond recovery though, I'm afraid. The Dragon is currently 30' above the ground, about 5' to 10' above some of the nearby trees. It is holding it's position in the hopes that it's breath weapon will recharge at the beginning of its next turn and it can hit Zanoth with an icy blast as well. I will wait to roll any Death Saves for Lucky in case someone wants to hit him with some healing magic, which would make that moot. Your turn Outlanders! Dice luck!]
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Zanoth looks on in horror as the Dragon freezes his small companion solid, and realized that he was out of reach to help heal him, and also that the Dragon was still out of reach of his spear.
Casting a curse on the beast, Zanoth calls back “Try it you snivelling white worm, I dare you to come try and eat me”.
/OOC
Move: To within 30 ft of it, saying away from other party members.
Bonus Action: Activate Hexblade’s Curse on the Dragon (19/20 crit, +2 damage on a hit, heal +5hp on its death)
Action: Cast 0:Chill Touch29 to hit vs AC17 for 5 necrotic damage, stops healing.
Reaction: If it comes within reach prior to physically attacking me, I will use my Polearm Mastery reaction to attack. So let me know IF it comes in reach, at which point I will post the rolls.
Gor moves 30 feet closer to the dragon trying to hide amongst the trees, near 60 feet away, and consults his star map once more but this time begins to twinkle. Tattoos in the shape of the constellation Sagittarii form all over him. He shoots a bolt of radiant energy hurling towards the dragon (hit 16 dam 19). He then points his map toward the dragon and lets loose a barrage of twinkling arrows (17 hit 9 dam)and hopes for the best.
Gor's arrow coalesced from the stuff of stars and night slammed into the dragon's neck, drawing a roar of pain, and Zanoth's necrotic magic made that pain filled roar into a piercing scream that rattled all the trees nearby. Meanwhile Mills attempted a ride-by pickup of their fallen halfling friend Lucky. Sadly, in his swiftness to be away from the dragon, Mills was not able to get a good grip on the halfling. Thankfully the magic of his Cure Wounds was transferred as he attempted to grab him, and as he rode away, he saw the little man open his eyes, and woozily begin to stand. First the halfling attempted to hide behind a nearby tree trunk, but the heavy snow prevented him from moving as swiftly and silently as he would have liked. Knowing that the group will need every drop of blood they can spill, Lucky fired another arrow from his shortbow, but the wooziness from having just been darn near frozen right to death left his limbs weak, and his arrow went well wide of the mark.
What happened next sent a shiver of fear through every member of the Outlanders. Instead of blasting Zanoth with another chill wind from the depths of its frigid bowels, the white scaled dragon descended, and grabbed the chainmailed warrior in one of it's claws! Holding him still with the one claw the dragon took back to the air, rising 25' above the snowy forest floor, it's claws pierced through Zanoth's mail and drew blood, but worse was the bite. The dragon chomped down on the warrior like he was nothing more than a turkey leg fit for feasting. Mills, Gor and Lucky all watched as the dragon looked like he was going to fly away with their friend, possibly to eat him mid-flight, or to play with his food and drop him back to the cold snowy ground, like a cat playing with a mouse.
[OOC: These are Lucky's ROUND 3 actions. These would happen after Zanoth's Polearm Master Opportunity attack. After the big man was grappled and lifted off the ground. Even so, I think everyone is going to really like it. Lucky, who was able to roll with advantage after a successful bonus action Hide, scored a critical hit! IF Zanoth's Polearm Master OA hits successfully, and does at least 7hp worth of damage to the dragon, then Lucky's critical hit would actually be the end of it! I'll wait to see Zanoth's rolls before narrating that sequence of events.] Seeing his friend being carried off like nothing more than a snack gave Lucky a renewed sense of strength. He once again attempted to hide from the dragon's view to try to catch him unawares with his bowshot. This time the halfling's luck returned to him. His stealthily crept behind a nearby tree, out of sight of the dragon, and then, after carefully lining up his shot, let the ammunition fly. The arrow pierced right in between two scales of the dragon's neck and lodged fletching deep. A massive arterial spray of blood spattered all over Zanoth and came raining down, staining the white snow crimson. "Ha! Take that, f*cker." The little man whispered in defiance, hoping against hope that his friend could finish the beast off before it got too far into the sky.
[OOC: Obviously Zanoth, you can roll that Polearm Master opportunity attack. All rolls are in the Game Log. Dice luck had not been with you until Lucky's little tide-turner. The Dragon kept rolling high, and, Zanoth, I rolled for your contested strength check for the grapple (which did replace one of the dragon's claw attacks), and it literally came up a 1. Oof. So Zanoth is currently Grappled, that does NOT prevent him from attacking. It only prevents him from moving. So even if the OA from the dragon entering your reach misses, hopefully one or both of your actual weapon attacks will get the job done. If not, there's still Mills and Gor, and don't forget to roll those d4s and add them to attack rolls! Dice luck! The Outlanders are very close to killing a trophy worthy foe!]
@DM. Could you please post the damage rolls ? I can see Lucky’s rolls, but not the dragons. Zanoth will need to make a CON check (for Bless to stay up) at the appropriate time.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Zanoth recalled his heroic speech to Aaris and the dangers to the town. His resolve was bolstered as the memory flooded back, and how this beast would wreak havoc on the townsfolk if it lived. Striking out with his spear, he uses the last of his divine reserves to try and strike deep before it rended him to scraps of flesh;
“Hit it with everything you have, we cannot let it escape.“
/OOC
Reaction - I will use my Post #490,”Inspiration” to get advantage for the attack, and if I hit I will throw in a L1 Divine Smite (last of my spell slots). Bless+Cursed=crit 19/20, +1d4 to hit, +2 damage.
24 to hit AC17, for 11 piercing damage + 11 radiant damage.
As Zanoth gets hauled high into the air, he sees his strike deeply wounded the beast, and any moment he knew arrows would bring it down. Badly wounded he placed his palm onto a gushing wound from the dragon, staunching it’s flow.
/OOC
Lay on Hands to myself for 10 heal… then I’ll fall.
[OOC: Okay, well, I made a mistake that fell in your favor, so we'll just keep it that way. I forgot to remove the cold damage from Zanoth from the dragon's bite attack. I rolled it, I just forgot to remove it. With that damage Zanoth would have actually been put at exactly 0hp. So he would not have been able to lay on hands before falling. I've always been a DM who says that when I make a mistake in the PCs favor, it sticks. To your question Zanoth, not sure why the dragon's rolls were hidden, but it did 14 piercing damage with the bite, and 12 slashing damage with the claw. So Zanoth would have had to have made two different DC 10 Con Saving Throws to maintain concentration. I forgot to subtract the 7 cold damage from the bite, so that just disappeared into the ether. :) As is, the bless doesn't really affect the outcome of things, so it doesn't matter if Zanoth maintains it or not. Also, I rolled two nat 1's for his fall damage. I said that falling into such a heavy snowfall would soften the damage so I rolled 1d6 and 1d4. Each came up as a 1. :P So...]
Feeling the beast's life force ebbing from it after his little friend's arrow pierced the artery in its neck, Zanoth siezed the opportunity and drove the point of his spear right through the open wound. His spear head popped out the top side of the dragon's serpentine neck accompanied by a pulsing squirt of bright red blood that scattered across the snow like rain drops below. Immediately the dragon's eyes rolled up into it's head and it lost it's grip on its would-be meal. Zanoth, feeling gravity's pull and seeing the ground coming up to meet him, knew that hitting the ground, even in a thick blanket of snow, was not going to be pleasant, especially with the threat of a large dragon landing on top of him. Reflexively the paladin called upon his divine power to heal and used it to stem the flow of blood from many of his open wounds. Then, in an agile move that made even Lucky gasp, Zanoth kicked himself away from the dragon at just the last moment before impact and rolled up into a tucked position, using his falling momentum to roll through the soft snow and then popping to his feet. In the end Zanoth stood triumphant and victorious right next to the corpse of the draconic foe he and his friends had just conquered.
[OOC: If you all are willing, I'd love to see a little narrative roleplay regarding the aftermath of that wonderful fight, and the triumph of bringing down a dragon, even if it was young. :)]
The pain of the puncture wounds pulsed as Zanoth nimbly rolled to his feet, the ten foot long body of the white dragon steaming in the snow nearby, it’s blood staining the pristine whiteness from multiple puncture wounds. A couple more arrows thudded into it’s unmoving corpse to make sure it was dead.
Disregarding his own safety, Zanoth quickly ran over to his friend Lucky, checking he was alive after being engulfed in the deadly frost breath. Poor Dawn was frozen solid, but at least they now had fresh horse meat for dinner tonight rather than hard tack, and Lucky could ride with him on the morrow.
Checking the skies for further danger, Zanoth then gathered near his friends, his heavy breath white in the cold air.
“A Dragon.. A damn dragon… and it had to find us… me… in my clanky armour. Or was it looking for something ? Looking for us ?
Gor, you can ask your animal friends about this creature, are there any more, and importantly where it’s lair might be ?
Dragons are supposed to horde treasure, and whilst a few gold and shiny gems will make Lucky happy, it might have something hidden away to aid us in the future.
We also might want to see if any of it’s scales, skin, teeth or claws are useful. I hear they can be made into durable armour and weapons”.
Gor nods and begins to ritually cast speak with animals. Once the ritual is done he begins to ask questions about the dragon to the furry creatures hanging about. He spreads some seeds and holds out some acorns before saying "Tell me what you know of this dragon"
It took Gor a bit of time to coax some of the tiny forest creatures to get anywhere near the dragon's corpse, even though it lay inert and lifeless for lengthy minutes. Finally when Gor was able to convince a few of the braver beasts, like ravens, that the dragon was in fact dead. He was able to get rather a wealth of information from them regarding their recently deceased draconic enemy. Apparently the dragon's name was Mexurekataax, and he was long the bane of this part of the Grumorjak Mountains. Killing him, it turned out, would be a major cause for celebration in the nearby animal kingdom, as he had made a habit of freezing and eating whole families of animals to sate his ever-increasing appetite. The animals believed that Mexurekataax was drawn from his lair in the mountains because of the late season blizzard. Mexurekataax especially loved to fly and hunt across the land after it was blanketed in heavy snow. As to the location of his lair, the animals knew that very well. It was in an ice cave that could only be reached by swimming underneath a glacial lake high up on one of the nearby mountain peaks. When Gor asked about how long it would take to get there all the birds said, "one flight." The squirrels said, "three or four suns." None of which, of course, was any real help at indicating how long it would take four men and three horses, or if they could even reach the glacial lake without satisfactory climbing gear.
Even so, Mills took out his map of the mountains and made a mark and some notes in the vicinity. At some point in the future, making a trek up the mountains to find a dragon's lair might just be worth all the risks. As it stood now, the idea of making that climb only to have to swim underneath an icy glacial lake did not sound prudent. That kind of thing would take ample preparation, and the group's key mission now was to get the amulet they took from the dragonborn into the hands of those in the Republic that could protect and study it.
Gor turns to the group and relays the message from the animals, telling them everything they said. "I must say to never count out nature's creatures. They are always watching and know more than humans....typically...."With that he turns to the animals and feeds them some more thanking them for their help
“Sorry Lucky, no dragons treasure horde… yet ! Let’s get this creatures bits & pieces cut off and then get on our way, a Dragons corpse is sure to attract attention, especially if the animals here know… which it seems they already do. And every minute we waste here allows others to get closer to us.”
/OOC Suggest we do a Short Rest whilst we strip it’s corpse, then get on the road again.
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Ignoring the chilling grip of necrotic magic, which pales in comparison to the pain of the two arrows that lodged between its scales, the dragon continues its dive toward the small stand of trees where Lucky and Dawn attempted to hide. Just when Zanoth though it would come in reach of his spear, the dragon opened its wings arresting its momentum and let out an icy blast of cold death from deep within its bowels. The 30' cone enveloped the entire copse of trees where Lucky was hunkered down. The rest of the Outlanders watched in abject terror as the icy breath shattered the trunks of every tree in the vicinity, instantly killed Lucky's horse, Dawn, and knocked the little man unconscious, all but crystalizing every part of his exposed flesh. Horse and rider both fell over like a toppled statue, and the dragon flapped its wings to stay 30' above the snowy forest floor. Then it looked directly at Zanoth and said, "Don't worry little one, there's plenty of room in my belly for all of you!"
[OOC: So, once again Lucky lives up to his name. He made the DC 15 Con save to only take half damage from the breath weapon, which means he only took 26hp damage, not the full 52, which would have killed him outright! As it is, he's at 0hp and dying, but should he receive any healing at all, he's right back up and in the fight. That rule is one of the rules of 5e that lets everyone know that the game leans HARD into favoring player characters over their enemies. :) Dawn the horse is beyond recovery though, I'm afraid. The Dragon is currently 30' above the ground, about 5' to 10' above some of the nearby trees. It is holding it's position in the hopes that it's breath weapon will recharge at the beginning of its next turn and it can hit Zanoth with an icy blast as well. I will wait to roll any Death Saves for Lucky in case someone wants to hit him with some healing magic, which would make that moot. Your turn Outlanders! Dice luck!]
/OOC
Mills will try to ride his horse past Lucky and pick him up, casting cure wounds on the halfling's frozen body
6
Paladin - warforged - orange
Gor moves 30 feet closer to the dragon trying to hide amongst the trees, near 60 feet away, and consults his star map once more but this time begins to twinkle. Tattoos in the shape of the constellation Sagittarii form all over him. He shoots a bolt of radiant energy hurling towards the dragon (hit 16 dam 19). He then points his map toward the dragon and lets loose a barrage of twinkling arrows (17 hit 9 dam) and hopes for the best.
Gor's arrow coalesced from the stuff of stars and night slammed into the dragon's neck, drawing a roar of pain, and Zanoth's necrotic magic made that pain filled roar into a piercing scream that rattled all the trees nearby. Meanwhile Mills attempted a ride-by pickup of their fallen halfling friend Lucky. Sadly, in his swiftness to be away from the dragon, Mills was not able to get a good grip on the halfling. Thankfully the magic of his Cure Wounds was transferred as he attempted to grab him, and as he rode away, he saw the little man open his eyes, and woozily begin to stand. First the halfling attempted to hide behind a nearby tree trunk, but the heavy snow prevented him from moving as swiftly and silently as he would have liked. Knowing that the group will need every drop of blood they can spill, Lucky fired another arrow from his shortbow, but the wooziness from having just been darn near frozen right to death left his limbs weak, and his arrow went well wide of the mark.
What happened next sent a shiver of fear through every member of the Outlanders. Instead of blasting Zanoth with another chill wind from the depths of its frigid bowels, the white scaled dragon descended, and grabbed the chainmailed warrior in one of it's claws! Holding him still with the one claw the dragon took back to the air, rising 25' above the snowy forest floor, it's claws pierced through Zanoth's mail and drew blood, but worse was the bite. The dragon chomped down on the warrior like he was nothing more than a turkey leg fit for feasting. Mills, Gor and Lucky all watched as the dragon looked like he was going to fly away with their friend, possibly to eat him mid-flight, or to play with his food and drop him back to the cold snowy ground, like a cat playing with a mouse.
[OOC: These are Lucky's ROUND 3 actions. These would happen after Zanoth's Polearm Master Opportunity attack. After the big man was grappled and lifted off the ground. Even so, I think everyone is going to really like it. Lucky, who was able to roll with advantage after a successful bonus action Hide, scored a critical hit! IF Zanoth's Polearm Master OA hits successfully, and does at least 7hp worth of damage to the dragon, then Lucky's critical hit would actually be the end of it! I'll wait to see Zanoth's rolls before narrating that sequence of events.] Seeing his friend being carried off like nothing more than a snack gave Lucky a renewed sense of strength. He once again attempted to hide from the dragon's view to try to catch him unawares with his bowshot. This time the halfling's luck returned to him. His stealthily crept behind a nearby tree, out of sight of the dragon, and then, after carefully lining up his shot, let the ammunition fly. The arrow pierced right in between two scales of the dragon's neck and lodged fletching deep. A massive arterial spray of blood spattered all over Zanoth and came raining down, staining the white snow crimson. "Ha! Take that, f*cker." The little man whispered in defiance, hoping against hope that his friend could finish the beast off before it got too far into the sky.
[OOC: Obviously Zanoth, you can roll that Polearm Master opportunity attack. All rolls are in the Game Log. Dice luck had not been with you until Lucky's little tide-turner. The Dragon kept rolling high, and, Zanoth, I rolled for your contested strength check for the grapple (which did replace one of the dragon's claw attacks), and it literally came up a 1. Oof. So Zanoth is currently Grappled, that does NOT prevent him from attacking. It only prevents him from moving. So even if the OA from the dragon entering your reach misses, hopefully one or both of your actual weapon attacks will get the job done. If not, there's still Mills and Gor, and don't forget to roll those d4s and add them to attack rolls! Dice luck! The Outlanders are very close to killing a trophy worthy foe!]
(Did guiding bolt hit too? If so attack w advantage for whoever)
@Gor, no. You got 16, it’s AC 17.
@DM. Could you please post the damage rolls ? I can see Lucky’s rolls, but not the dragons. Zanoth will need to make a CON check (for Bless to stay up) at the appropriate time.
/OOC
/OOC
(Oh.. I saw a crit ? Green 20 ?)
Mills draws and shoots again, aiming for the dragon's heart!
Attack: 13 Damage: 4
(Even if he's killed, I think Mills will fire just to be sure it's really dead)
Paladin - warforged - orange
Zanoth concentration check (Bless): 20
[OOC: Okay, well, I made a mistake that fell in your favor, so we'll just keep it that way. I forgot to remove the cold damage from Zanoth from the dragon's bite attack. I rolled it, I just forgot to remove it. With that damage Zanoth would have actually been put at exactly 0hp. So he would not have been able to lay on hands before falling. I've always been a DM who says that when I make a mistake in the PCs favor, it sticks. To your question Zanoth, not sure why the dragon's rolls were hidden, but it did 14 piercing damage with the bite, and 12 slashing damage with the claw. So Zanoth would have had to have made two different DC 10 Con Saving Throws to maintain concentration. I forgot to subtract the 7 cold damage from the bite, so that just disappeared into the ether. :) As is, the bless doesn't really affect the outcome of things, so it doesn't matter if Zanoth maintains it or not. Also, I rolled two nat 1's for his fall damage. I said that falling into such a heavy snowfall would soften the damage so I rolled 1d6 and 1d4. Each came up as a 1. :P So...]
Feeling the beast's life force ebbing from it after his little friend's arrow pierced the artery in its neck, Zanoth siezed the opportunity and drove the point of his spear right through the open wound. His spear head popped out the top side of the dragon's serpentine neck accompanied by a pulsing squirt of bright red blood that scattered across the snow like rain drops below. Immediately the dragon's eyes rolled up into it's head and it lost it's grip on its would-be meal. Zanoth, feeling gravity's pull and seeing the ground coming up to meet him, knew that hitting the ground, even in a thick blanket of snow, was not going to be pleasant, especially with the threat of a large dragon landing on top of him. Reflexively the paladin called upon his divine power to heal and used it to stem the flow of blood from many of his open wounds. Then, in an agile move that made even Lucky gasp, Zanoth kicked himself away from the dragon at just the last moment before impact and rolled up into a tucked position, using his falling momentum to roll through the soft snow and then popping to his feet. In the end Zanoth stood triumphant and victorious right next to the corpse of the draconic foe he and his friends had just conquered.
[OOC: If you all are willing, I'd love to see a little narrative roleplay regarding the aftermath of that wonderful fight, and the triumph of bringing down a dragon, even if it was young. :)]
Gor nods and begins to ritually cast speak with animals. Once the ritual is done he begins to ask questions about the dragon to the furry creatures hanging about. He spreads some seeds and holds out some acorns before saying "Tell me what you know of this dragon"
Mills is a bit shaken, but can't help feeling amazed.
"Wow! I mean... Wow! I've gotta have some proof. No one will believe it otherwise."
He gets out his shortsword and gestures to the others to make sure it's okay before he starts hacking off the head. "I know we're in a hurry, but..."
Paladin - warforged - orange
It took Gor a bit of time to coax some of the tiny forest creatures to get anywhere near the dragon's corpse, even though it lay inert and lifeless for lengthy minutes. Finally when Gor was able to convince a few of the braver beasts, like ravens, that the dragon was in fact dead. He was able to get rather a wealth of information from them regarding their recently deceased draconic enemy. Apparently the dragon's name was Mexurekataax, and he was long the bane of this part of the Grumorjak Mountains. Killing him, it turned out, would be a major cause for celebration in the nearby animal kingdom, as he had made a habit of freezing and eating whole families of animals to sate his ever-increasing appetite. The animals believed that Mexurekataax was drawn from his lair in the mountains because of the late season blizzard. Mexurekataax especially loved to fly and hunt across the land after it was blanketed in heavy snow. As to the location of his lair, the animals knew that very well. It was in an ice cave that could only be reached by swimming underneath a glacial lake high up on one of the nearby mountain peaks. When Gor asked about how long it would take to get there all the birds said, "one flight." The squirrels said, "three or four suns." None of which, of course, was any real help at indicating how long it would take four men and three horses, or if they could even reach the glacial lake without satisfactory climbing gear.
Even so, Mills took out his map of the mountains and made a mark and some notes in the vicinity. At some point in the future, making a trek up the mountains to find a dragon's lair might just be worth all the risks. As it stood now, the idea of making that climb only to have to swim underneath an icy glacial lake did not sound prudent. That kind of thing would take ample preparation, and the group's key mission now was to get the amulet they took from the dragonborn into the hands of those in the Republic that could protect and study it.
Gor turns to the group and relays the message from the animals, telling them everything they said. "I must say to never count out nature's creatures. They are always watching and know more than humans....typically...." With that he turns to the animals and feeds them some more thanking them for their help
/OOC Suggest we do a Short Rest whilst we strip it’s corpse, then get on the road again.