Hoard of the Dragon Queen [IC. 2014 rules]

Draylin, you find that each of the acolytes carries a [weapon]club[/weapon] and 4 gold between all of them and the kobolds. 

Thislewick, you watch as Montar meticulously begins his work on the broken pieces of wood and stone, carefully placing each part where it once belonged. You quickly identify places where you can use your Druidcraft to help seal some of the cracks with dirt, and others where your magic can strengthen the door frame even more by wrapping it in sturdy vines.

While everyone else is occupied with their own tasks, Escobert turns to look at Tam. "To plunder, why else?" he scoffs. "These pesky buggers have been looting every house and barn, stealing whatever they might get their filthy hands on."
He spits to the ground in the direction of one of the enemy's bodies. "The keep has its own vault, a lot of the town's coin is kept here. After speaking with Master Leosin, the beaten up half-elf you brought in earlier, Governor Nighthill is convinced that these greedy creatures are trying to steal everything they can. I know not of why, there's not been enough time to discuss the possible reasons, but it seems that's their main goal."

Soon, Montar completes his task and closes the gate again. Escobert walks over, inspects the work, pulls out his giant keychain, locks the gate and pats the fellow dwarf on the shoulder. "Masterful and sturdy job! If ya ever get tired of adventuring, I'd always have a place for you here to help keep the town in good shape."

With that done, the castellan sighs and looks around the room. "Well, I think we are all done here. Let's get back up to the main hall and wait out the rest of the att--------"

As he is about to finish the sentence, a deafening roar fills the air. There is a large boom and the whole keep suddenly shakes, dust and little stone pieces raining down from the ceiling. The terrified screams of the hundreds of people currently hiding in the keep reaches your ears. 

You all rush back to the upper floor to see people crying and screaming and running to hide wherever they can. The guards are rushing up the stairs, yelling at each other.

"The dragon is attacking the keep! The dragon is attacking. Everyone, get up to the parapet!"

“You want us to go towards a dragon?” Tam asks incredulously. “Shouldn’t we all hide?”

Montar stows his tools and rushes to the parapet, drawing his new crossbow as he goes. His eyes are wild, and he snarls, "Dragon!" as he sprints by.

"The exuberance of youth, "  Thistlewick says to the already empty room...

as he too, at a much slower pace, climbs the steps up to the parapets.

Draylin

With a quick pat on the shoulder, Draylin says to Montar, "I, for one, feel better with your maul on the field of battle beside me, good dwarf."  With that, the monk is off like a flash, taking two or three stairs at a time to reach the parapets.

Tam looks at the tiny hand crossbow and says out loud, “What the heck is this little thing going to do to a dragon?” Shrugging, she follows her new companions. Once more into the breach. 

Draylin

Hearing the hesitance in Tam's voice, the young monk pauses for the briefest of moments to say softly to her, "That thing could bring down the keep if it wanted to; may as well get a good view.  Besides, just imagine the story if we live!"  Before waiting for any response, he pats her on the shoulder and springs back into motion.

You all make your way up the stairs to the top of the parapet. Most of the guards, along with Governor Nighthill, Escobert, and even Leosin, are already there, dividing themselves into groups to spread out along the battlements. A trio of giant ballistas are positioned, aimed toward the sky.

Above, a dark shape cuts through the clouds, the flap of its massive wings sending gusts of wind crashing against the walls. In the dim light of the fires burning around town and under the moonlight, the blue dragon comes into view as it swoops down to make another attack on the keep.

Everyone, roll initiative!

If anyone wants to man one of the ballistas, please be advised that a ballista can only fire every second round, as it takes one full round to reload and re-arm it. 

Ballista Statistics: Ranged Attack Roll: +6, range 120/480 ft. Hit: 3d10 Piercing damage. A Ballista is a massive crossbow that fires heavy bolts. Loading a Ballista requires the Utilize action, and aiming it requires another Utilize action. Then a crew member can take the Ballista Bolt action. Each ballista can be manned by 2 people (one loading while the other one aims and fires). 

To give you an idea of what this keep area looks like, you can imagine a ballista to be positioned at each of the left corners of the parapet.

Montar initiative: 16.

Scanning the area, Montar finds a defensible point with as much cover as he can manage, hunkers down, and trains his crossbow on the dragon.

(The ballista would give him a higher to hit, but he figures that people without another ranged option need it.)

Draylin INI 10

Thistlewick - Init: 18

Following Montar's example, 'Wick tries to find a defensible spot that also might give cover verses a dragon's attack. 

He prepares his one 'long range' cantrip - Chill Touch to release once the dragon comes into range.

6 init 

Tam runs up the steps after her companions and her jaw nearly drops the stone floor when she sees a real live dragon. Incredible!

She sees the ballista, looks at her hand crossbow, then holsters it, going over to the ballista and examining it carefully, delaying her action somewhat before she figures out how to fire the thing. But she hopes this much larger weapon can help bring down the beast. 

Draylin will look at the beast in awe for a seconds before scrambling to the batista with Tam, prepared to lend a hand with the loading until something got close enough to punch properly.

Blue dragon initiative - 6

Leosin initiative - 5

Escobert initiative - 7

Governor Nighthill initiative - 9

Group 1 defenders initiative - 2
Group 2 defenders initiative - 1
Group 3 defenders initiative - 9
Group 4 defenders initiative - 19

Initiative order:

Group 4 defenders - 19

Thistlewick - 18
Montar - 16
Draylin - 10
Governor Nighthill - 9
Group 3 defenders - 9
Escobert - 7

Tam - 6

Blue dragon - 6 

Leosin - 5
Group 1 defenders - 2
Group 2 defenders - 1

The defenders split into four groups, scrambling to cover different sections of the battlements. One of these groups rushes past you up the stairs, taking positions on the highest part of the keep. They draw their longbows, keeping the strings taut and tracking the dark shape in the sky as they wait for the dragon to swoop into range.

The creature splits the clouds with breath-taking speed, diving towards the keep. The guards release a volley of arrows into the night sky. 

Attack: 19 Damage: 10
Attack: 18 Damage: 9
Attack: 17 Damage: 10
Attack: 5 Damage: 7
Attack: 14 Damage: 3
Attack: 6 Damage: 3
Attack: 15 Damage: 3
Attack: 7 Damage: 4
Attack: 15 Damage: 3
Attack: 11 Damage: 8

The majority of these arrows miss, disappearing somewhere in the dark sky. The dragon gets within eighty feet in what feels like a blink. Over to Thislewick, Montar and Draylin. 

Thistlewick's eyes darken with abyssal power as he mutter a gravelly, forgotten tongue, weaving his fingers through the air to summon the void. 

Chill Touch      To Hit: 19       Dmg:  1 pt necrotic

A ghostly, skeletal arm erupts from thin air directly in the dragon's space. The bones are wrapped in a haunting blue-black aura that screams of the afterlife.  The spectral bones smash into the dragon's chest, bypassing its tough scales and leaching the warmth from its draconic blood.  A decaying, necrotic frost spreads across the point of contact... barely.

The dragon seems to take the equivalent of a 'stutter step' as it's muscles lock in agonizing, unnatural stillness. For a brief moment, a glowing blue skeletal hand remains firmly clamped to the dragon's wing, radiating deathly magic that prevents any magical mending.

Thistlewick drops back into his cover positon, hoping he wasn't noticed.  "Who am I kidding?  A cantrip against a Blue Dragon?"

Montar closes his eyes briefly, summoning the magic embedded in the runes etched into his maul. Before the startled eyes of the defenders, the dwarf grows four feet in height, taking up more space on the battlements and presenting a larger target. He screams at the dragon, "Coward! Land and fight, wyrm!" while firing off his crossbow. Sadly, the shot is very, very wide (atk: 8) as Montar's emotions get the better of him. Cursing in both dwarven and giant, he accelerates his motion, loading another crossbow bolt and firing in an instant. This one strikes true (Atk: 21) and deeply (Dmg: 11). Pressing his luck, the dwarf activates his fire rune; as it blazes on the maul on his back, fire explodes around the dragon (3 fire damage), enveloping it (STR DC 14 save or the dragon is restrained and continues to take damage). 

Draylin

The monk moves with Tam to the ballista.  He hopes upon hope that someone had the good sense to load the dang thing before they all got up here, but if not he will work with Tam to get it loaded and set to fire.  As they work, he keeps an eye on the dragon, ready to dodge out of the way of it's deadly breath or raking claws!

***action ballista related things / B/A: ki point patient defense***