Tyranny of Dragons - Session 4

We last left off at the beginning of the dramatic fight with the huge blue dragon that has been attacking Greenest all night, while surveying the town from the top of the keep.

Lou rushed through the trap door and down the ladder, attempting to convince the guards to go with him and hide, though the defenders were ready to die in defense of their keep, the last stronghold for the town. The dragon introduced itself as Lennithon and gave a very unconvincing speech about how the defenders should quake in fear from its presence and how it would destroy them all. Because the dragon had been attacking all night, the effects of its Frightful Presence, were not felt by any of the defenders or heroes.

Moki cast her Chromatic Orb, choosing poison for the damage type, sending a tight globule of noxious fumes at the dragon's face. Then, due to her being a wild magic sorcerer, a secondary effect blasted forth from her manipulation of the Weave: all non-magical armor within 60 feet thickens and provides +1 to the wearer's AC. I'm using a separate, longer list of effects than what is in the core rulebooks, so that's why the effect may be foreign to some of you.

After realizing they could hit the dragon after Moki's attack, Thamior threw a spear, Gwen hit with her Sacred Flame, and Duckie crit with her bow. Lou, feeling the peer pressure, took a big swig of his moonshine and ushered the defenders up the ladder to the top of the tower, casting Ray of Frost, but missing wide.

After the barrage of hits, Lennithon announced that this fight was no longer worth his time, and flew off into the darkness. Observing the town, the party saw the same woman, cloaked in purple robes, in a fitful rage, presumably at the dragon's flight from the keep, before she disappeared again behind burning buildings again. Groups of cultists with their hoards of kobolds and mercenaries continued to raid the town around them. Governor Nighthill, with surprise, alerted the party to a particularly large group heading toward the temple of Chauntea.

Convincing the Governor to send three of his defenders to help them, the party set off to try to rescue the civilians who were trapped inside the temple. Traveling down the Old Tunnel and along the creek bed, the party managed to avoid being seen by any of the wandering groups of raiders.

Approaching the walled grounds of the temple of Chauntea, the group heard the noise of yipping kobolds and shouting humans making a ruckus.

You see a large building made of fieldstone with a peaked slate roof, square in shape. It is taller than most of the other buildings in town. You see evidence of the fires that the raiders attempted to start, but they appear to have had little success. There is one group of five cultists, sixteen kobolds, and three ambush drakes slowly patrolling around the building, making lots of noise in attempts to strike fear into the civilians inside. There is another smaller group of three mercenaries and ten kobolds throwing burning hay against the back door of the temple, mostly serving to push smoke between the cracks in the door.

Thamior snuck along the wall to get a view of the front door, finding a group of four mercenaries, twelve kobolds, and one human figure cloaked in purplish-black with a mask in the likeness of a dragon. The four mercenaries were operating an improvised battering ram. The characters observed that they had only minutes before the main doors would crumple under the assault.

Acting quickly, and seeing the wandering group disappear behind the far side of the temple, the group assaulted the smaller group at the back of the temple. The party stayed at range for the surprise round, with the three defenders charging in to do some crowd control. After dispatching the group of raiders, but keeping a two kobolds alive to take back as prisoners, the party entered the temple through the back door.

Inside, they found dozens of townsfolk huddled together in fear. Aldolphus, attempting to intimidate the villagers into running out of the temple, only made them more paralyzed in fear. Then a relatively calm half-elf priest approached them, introducing himself as Eadyan Falconmoon. With his help, the party led the civilians outside, over the wall, and back to the keep just as the front door of the temple began to buckle on its hinges.

The group took this opportunity to rest for the first time all night. After about an hour (short rest), the group heard a booming voice from somewhere outside.

"Defenders of Greenest! This has been a successful night, and I am feeling generous. Do you see these four pitiful, useless prisoners? We have no need for them, so I will trade them back to you. Send out your best warrior to fight me, and you can have these four in exchange."

Hustling out onto the wall near the gate, the group peered out into the dark.

A creature stands in the dim light of the dying fires around the keep. Although it's shaped roughly like a human, it is a least seven feet tall, its skin is covered in blue scales, its fingers bear wicked claws, and its face has the muzzle and reptilian eyes of a dragon. The creature stops about eighty yards from the main gate of the keep and scans the walls. A line of kobolds fans out behind it. With their spears, they prod four human prisoners into the dim light. You can make out a woman, a teenage boy in a blood-soaked tunic, and two children.The creature hails the keep, "I ask again, who will challenge me?"

The Governor then approached the group, saying, "My friends, you've demonstrated your prowess all through this frightful night. I realize this is an awful burden to ask you to bear, but any of you has a better chance to defeat that horror than my militia have."

A defender rushed up to the governor then, begging him to save his sister and her children, apparently the four prisoners at risk. He offered to go himself, but the characters stepped up to fight this creature, sending Adolphus as their champion. Lou recognized the creature as a half-dragon.

Upon acceptance of the challenge, the  half-dragon, introducing himself as Langdedrosa Cyanwrath, offered the terms of the challenge: single-combat, to the death, either way the prisoners would be released afterward. Chugging the clear potion that was transformed from a potion of healing, and chasing with some of Lou's moonshine, he gained advantage of saving throws for 24 hours. Then, jumping down from the gate (and rolling a natural 20 on his acrobatics check), Aldophus did a front flip and landed in a perfect superhero stance in front of the gate.

The battle was quick and didn't go Adolphus' way. Langdedrosa swung his greatsword, dealing eight damage, cackling "Fool." Adolphus struck a few times with his warhammer and with Inflict Wounds. But despite his newfound quickness from the clear potion and successful dodging of the half-dragon's lightning breath, the half damage taken was enough to knock Adolphus unconscious. Dealing another blow (and a death saving throw) to the fallen gnome, Langdedrosa was true to his word, released the prisoners, and left Greenest, saying farewell. As the party rushed down to help him, Adolphus rolled a natural 20 on his death saving throw (without the advantage), and was restored to consciousness.

With the threat to Greenest seemingly over, the group went back into the keep to heal and rest. Lou took some time to cast Identify as a ritual on the items they recovered from the Old Tunnel:

• Adamantine Chainmail
• Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location 
• Boots of Elvenkind
• Cloak of Protection
• Decanter of Endless Water
• Dust of Disappearance
• Keoghtom's Ointment
• Pearl of Power
• Potion of Healing x3
• Ring of Warmth
• Spell Scrolls
• "Blueheart" --, a +1 rapier

Notes from the DM: The group did almost everything perfectly in this session. They got a bunch of experience for that. It was a really fun session for them, and therefore for me. I think the group did a great job with the cadence of combat and got through three really tough encounters in one night. Up next, Episode 2!