Combined Parties: The Dragon Battle

 We gather at a spot outside of the city, with a pond and some trees and most importantly a cave. We park the Apparatus near the cave, and summon Phantom Steeds for the melee folks while it’s still a good 200’ in the air. Ruin sees its shadow circling over the Apparatus and passes the word, using the Message effect that we prepared. 

We have prepared extensively: hero’s feast to avoid its fear effect, various sorts of cold resistance and protection, invisibility to avoid being torn apart by claws, phantom steeds so the melee fighters can fly. 

Azrael is flying; he rises into the air and positions himself near a dragon. Geddy now throws Haste on us; Marshall summons a noble salamander (the fire beast, not the lizard). The dragon swoops lower and casts a spell; Azrael identifies it as True Strike. Martini looks the dragon over, but it doesn’t seem to be looking at her. Leira prepares a scorching ray and waits for it to get into range. Tavros circles down to the ground. Alexej screams something loud in his native tongue, and runs into the entrance. 

Azrael drops Wave of Exhaustion on the dragon, exhausting it. (-6 dex, -6 str, half movement speed) and then follows up with a quickened Ray of Enfeeblement (-14 str). Both get through the dragon’s spell resistance, weakening it substantially. He then heads down towards the entrance. 

Geddy starts singing, and Marshall casts Sanctuary on himself. 

The dragon moves back up and attacks Azrael, clawing the heck out of him but not actually killing him. Azrael is suddenly surrounded by Mirror Images. Martini tries to shoot it, but it’s covered itself in magical protections; she ducks into the cavern. Leira attempts magic missile but something absorbs it -- the dragon has a shield spell up. Tavros taunts the dragon and charges into the cave. Alexej charges the dragon and takes a slap from a claw on the way in; he attacks and hits, 140’ in the air and actually does some damage. First blood!

Azrael uses a quickened Dimension door into the cavern, then casts a quickened ennervation, giving it a negative level. Ruin actually manages to put an arrow in the beast with his magic fire bow; this reveals that the beast has also shielded itself against fire. This is not unexpected.

Geddy fires off a Dispel Magic and strips its magical defenses. Marshall fires off a Fire Storm, and the wyrm fails to dodge. It is also no longer immune to fire, so… (OOC 87 damage). The salander moves up to where it can attack the dragon when it hits the ground. 

The dragon flies 100’ further up; Alexej hits it again as it withdraws. It casts a spell (Fire Shield) that wreaths it in an aura of flame. Leira tags it with Magic Missile, and this time the spell does damage. Tavros yells, “Coward!”

Alexej retreats to the cave. Azrael throws a couple more magic missiles, one regular and one quickened and empowered. Martini taunts the dragon by waving the Hand of Vecna at him, which definitely gets his attention; the problem is, he’s distracted by those of us outside the cave. 

Geddy tries Greater Dispel Magic but fails to remove the fire shield. Marshall moves into the cave and uses Mass Cure Serious to cure Azrael and Alexej. The dragon casts another spell and disappears: greater invisibility. Martini taunts the dragon with the hand, and then goes back into the cave; Ruin follows and positions himself at the far end. Marshall casts Resist magic, and then adds Divine Favor and Divine Power; he then adds Freedom of Movement, and drops more healing on Azrael and Alexej. 

The dragon reaches and tries to grab Leira; Azrael catches it with Glitterdust as it yanks her out, then launches itself straight up into the air. Leira dimension doors right back into the cave, and the dragon roars with rage. Tavros calls: “Well, that didn’t go the way you expected, did it?” The dragon curses extensively in Draconic. 

Ruin calls for everybody to move back from the entrance, and Geddy tags the monster with Greater Dispel Magic again, stripping its defenses again. The dragon goes another 100’ up and casts Protection from Energy. Martini uses Dimension Door to get onto the dragon’s back, latching her slippers of spider climbing to it but losing her balance; she is prone on the back fo the dragon. Leira tries a Dispel Magic. Azrael throws out empowered magic missiles, and does a perfectly ridiculous amount of damage. 

Ruin teleports up as well, but immediately falls back off; Azrael hits him with Feather Fall just above the ground. 

Geddy tries Hideous Laughter, but fails. Marshall drops Freedom of Movement on Tavros. The dragon drops like a hawk, coming down on top of Ruin and pinning him. However, the salamander has been standing right there and attacks, but misses. Martini, on the dragon’s back, makes a full attack and hits him three times, sneak attacking for a ridiculous amount of damage. Tavros charges and hits with his sword for a decent amount of damage. Alexej moves up behind Tavros and attacks over his shoulder. 

Azrael uses an empower magic missile, gets through its spell resistance, and hurts him some more. Geddy continues singing as Marshall steps in and beheads the thing. (OOC: this was Round 12.) Martini looks at the head: “We should keep that.”

Ruin, darkly, teleporting out from under the dragon: “We should drop this on the Provost’s desk. No, wait, we should leave it in his bed while he’s sleeping.” 

Azrael teleports up to its hoard and retrieves the remaining treasure. 44,000 GP worth, in fact. 

Marshall casts Speak With Dead, so Geddy can try to question it. It fails its Will save, and he begins to question it. Geddy describes the vortex and whatnot for the benefit of the party, then asks the dragon what exactly happened when we took the hand. “Fanaxia was severed from Povos.” 

“When severed, where would non-Fanaxian creatures go?” Most would stay in Fanaxia. 

“If a creature disappeared from Fanaxia, where would they go?” I don’t know.

“What would happen to a metallic dragon?” Povos is one place, Fanaxia is another place, and Asgard is a third place. 

“Who gave you the Hand of Vecna?” I do not remember his name.

“What do you remember about him?” I don’t remember anything.

So our conclusion is that she could be in any of three worlds, or in between. We know Midgard is sealed off from Asgard; we can’t come to the gods in person, and they can’t come to Midgard. Marshall then attempts to cast Discern Location looking for Eva the young gold dragon. Marshall is a bit puzzled about why the gnome is so insistent about this. 

The spell comes back with a sort of vaguely-Fanaxia-but-nothing-specific. This suggests some possibilities, but we’re going to have to go look around.