((OOC: @Weathervision - A few questions before we enter the Inner Ward.
Is the Inner Ward just a barren courtyard? That is, can we see anything from the entrance that we could use as cover or for hiding, like barrels, crates, or wagons?
I don't remember. Have any of us made an INT check for knowing anything about guard drakes? If we haven't, what skill check should we use?
Are the guard drakes Medium creatures? Or are one or more of them Large-sized? The blue drake in the image that you posted looked much larger than the other one.
Are the guard drakes different distinct colors, like the image? Or just more generic draconic things? If they have color-specific resistances, like regular dragons, Krackle and Ixsas might have to choose his spells carefully to avoid possible damage resistances.
Are the drakes up and moving around? Or are they lying down, prone, while they watch the Inner Ward?
((OOC: Ixsas was giving SergeGuidance in case you want to make some sort of INT check to see whether Serge knows anything about these drakes that could be useful to us. I know that MotM added a bunch of additional drake variants, but I don't know exactly what we're dealing with here.))
Guard Drakes have chromatic resistances just like dragons based on the color of their scales. They are made by a grisly ritual and obey only the one that made them.
To learn more about the drakes.
All the drakes you see are of varying sizes but still within the medium size category.
You see
Blue drake
Green Drake
Red Drake
The Inner Ward is barren with no cover.
The guard drakes are patrolling the Inner Ward so they are not laying down.
While the bullywugs and lizardfolk battle behind them, Serge draws his sword and leads the way into the inner ward, drakes be-damned.
Ixsas grabs at Serge's sword arm desperately and says, "We survived the fight with the bullywugs, but the start of that fight was disastrous. Let us learn from that mistake and coordinate our attack better."
Fall back position. From the entrance to the Inner Ward, Ixsas looks at the tower. Seeing no entrance, he says, "I guess the entrance is around the far side of the tower." He points north and west, where the Inner Ward wraps around the north side of the tower. "But there could be more guards hidden out of sight there. If we start a fight, we may find ourselves facing more than just these three drakes. If we need to retreat, should we come back here or into that other tower (E)?" Ixsas is worried that if any real cultists push the party back to the Outer Ward (C), it could reveal that the party aren't actually cult members. That might not stop the lizardfolk-bullywug fight, but it could mean that some of the lizardfolk join the cultists against the party. We'd like to keep all of the lizardfolk and bullywugs out of the fight, busy with each other, right?
((OOC: FYI - Ixsas plans to conserve spell slots until we're facing the cult leaders, so he's going to be limited to cantrips in this fight.
Do we need to avoid being seen fighting the drakes? We could try to use something like Krackle's Create Bonfire to distract one or more of the drakes while we Dash either northwest or maybe to the entrance to tower E where we could maybe bottle up the drakes at the entrance. I doubt that we could make it all the way into tower U without a fight, but we might be able to move the fight out-of-view of the lizardfolk and bullywugs who are in the Outer Ward. Or do you think that we can trust that the bullywugs and lizardfolk will be too distracted for now to notice our fight in the inner ward?
If we want to try what Ixsas's suggested earlier -- seeing whether the drakes recognize the hat and/or respond to Krackle's draconic -- the rest of us should definitely ready attacks in case that attempt fails catastrophically.
If we're just gong to jump into a fight without trying that, we should probably try to start with ranged attacks just before we enter the Inner Ward (assuming that no one is worried about being seen by the lizardfolk and bullywugs). That is, from the entrance, attack and then move into the Inner Ward. That way, we hopefully get one round of attacks before we're even in initiative. If we're lucky, maybe we could take out the nearest drake before we even enter the Inner Ward.
Nature: 8 Even with guidance that won't pass the DC.
Serge halts at Ixsas' insistence. "I don't doubt that things could go wrong. Much has, and much more is likely to before the day is done. If you know a way upstairs other than past these drakes, I am all ears."
"As for the hat, I'm not sure why you think its important, but I'm game if you want to give it a try. Otherwise, I say we push in, you lot stay behind me and try to pick off the drakes before they overwhelm and kill me. Then we move on up the stairs."
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PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
"As for the hat, I'm not sure why you think its important
"Well, the hat must have some significance," Ixsas says. "Otherwise, wide did Pharblex hide it in his headquarters?" He leaves it up to Krackle or Zeds whether they want to try seeing whether the hat and/or draconic helps them with the drakes. If not, Ixsas doesn't have a better plan than Serge's direct assault.
But if they're just going to rush in and fight, Ixsas suggests:
Zeds prepares to fire his bow as soon as Serge moves.
Ixsaswill ready a spell against whichever drake Zeds targets.
Kracklecan either get ready a spell to target that same drake, or maybe he could just Create Bonfire 5-ft from the tower wall next to Serge. That way, perhaps the bonfire will hold that square and prevent all three drakes from attacking him at once.
Once everyone has gotten Ready, Serge can move into the Inner Ward to engage the first drake. Ixsas recommends moving along the tower wall so that the party is quickly out of view of the lizardfolk and the bullywugs and so that the drakes can easily surround Serge.
((OOC: Mechanically, I'm hoping that Zeds, Ixsas, and Krackle can all take their readied action so that we can hit one of the drakes before it has the opportunity to attack Serge no matter what happens with initiative when Serge enters the Inner Ward. Hopefully, it functions as a sort of surprise round of attacks before initiative is even rolled.))
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((OOC: @Weathervision - A few questions before we enter the Inner Ward.
))
((OOC: Ixsas was giving Serge Guidance in case you want to make some sort of INT check to see whether Serge knows anything about these drakes that could be useful to us. I know that MotM added a bunch of additional drake variants, but I don't know exactly what we're dealing with here.))
Nature Check DC 16
On Pass
Guard Drakes have chromatic resistances just like dragons based on the color of their scales. They are made by a grisly ritual and obey only the one that made them.
To learn more about the drakes.
All the drakes you see are of varying sizes but still within the medium size category.
You see
The Inner Ward is barren with no cover.
The guard drakes are patrolling the Inner Ward so they are not laying down.
Ixsas grabs at Serge's sword arm desperately and says, "We survived the fight with the bullywugs, but the start of that fight was disastrous. Let us learn from that mistake and coordinate our attack better."
Fall back position. From the entrance to the Inner Ward, Ixsas looks at the tower. Seeing no entrance, he says, "I guess the entrance is around the far side of the tower." He points north and west, where the Inner Ward wraps around the north side of the tower. "But there could be more guards hidden out of sight there. If we start a fight, we may find ourselves facing more than just these three drakes. If we need to retreat, should we come back here or into that other tower (E)?" Ixsas is worried that if any real cultists push the party back to the Outer Ward (C), it could reveal that the party aren't actually cult members. That might not stop the lizardfolk-bullywug fight, but it could mean that some of the lizardfolk join the cultists against the party. We'd like to keep all of the lizardfolk and bullywugs out of the fight, busy with each other, right?
((OOC: FYI - Ixsas plans to conserve spell slots until we're facing the cult leaders, so he's going to be limited to cantrips in this fight.
))
Nature: 8 Even with guidance that won't pass the DC.
Serge halts at Ixsas' insistence. "I don't doubt that things could go wrong. Much has, and much more is likely to before the day is done. If you know a way upstairs other than past these drakes, I am all ears."
"As for the hat, I'm not sure why you think its important, but I'm game if you want to give it a try. Otherwise, I say we push in, you lot stay behind me and try to pick off the drakes before they overwhelm and kill me. Then we move on up the stairs."
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
"Well, the hat must have some significance," Ixsas says. "Otherwise, wide did Pharblex hide it in his headquarters?" He leaves it up to Krackle or Zeds whether they want to try seeing whether the hat and/or draconic helps them with the drakes. If not, Ixsas doesn't have a better plan than Serge's direct assault.
But if they're just going to rush in and fight, Ixsas suggests:
((OOC: Mechanically, I'm hoping that Zeds, Ixsas, and Krackle can all take their readied action so that we can hit one of the drakes before it has the opportunity to attack Serge no matter what happens with initiative when Serge enters the Inner Ward. Hopefully, it functions as a sort of surprise round of attacks before initiative is even rolled.))