Night Chat Summary for 31 March 2000

Just before the chat sessions there was an e-mail turn where Xaveus and Diana drove the dragon off through the use of spells. But the party’s relief was short lived as the dragon was spotted in the tunnel blocking the party’s escape route.

We got through eight rounds of combat Friday night, which is a pretty good pace. The overall summary was that the party was not eager to re-engage the dragon. Several party members set themselves up to escape. The interesting part was when Nikki started casting Reckless Dweomer spells and got some rather interesting surges. One surge turned the ground under her (and under most of the party) to glass. Another filled the entire cavern with a dense fog which dropped visibility down to 10’. Towards the end of the session the dragon attacked once again.

We’ll do a PC by PC summary of what happened.

Matar: Being "walking wounded" (1 hit point, physical abilities dropped to 3) there wasn’t much for Matar to do. He spent all eight rounds slowly making his way towards the tunnel in the hope of somehow escaping. Near the end of the session he was close to Shadow when she was attacked by the dragon. He is now huddled against the wall, only 10’ away from the dragon. He is trying to put together some kind of lethal dose of herbs, so if the dragon does end up eating him he’ll be the last thing the wyrm ever eats.

Katrina: After the dragon disappeared Katrina made her way south down to the mouth of the tunnel. After taking a couple more pot-shots at the dragon’s mirror images, she climbed up onto one of the walls. She is currently making her way through the tunnel while 110’ up on the wall.

Sane: After using an invisibility spell Sane started to fly around. He kept in the air for most of the session, although he did land long enough to cast an Audible Glamer in the attempt to confuse the dragon. The dragon, however, quickly saw through the ruse and taunted Sane about it. Sane then decided it was time to leave, but when he started to fly off he realized that somehow he had taken off in the wrong direction. After turning around he quickly made his way back out, and is already in the outer cavern, well past the dragon.

Shadow: Shadow spent most of the time in the same location. While the dragon’s mirror images were visible she shot at several, dispelling them. Once the fog settled in she slowly made her way forward, searching for a ledge to climb up on to. Unknown to her, the dragon was "observing" her and finally attacked near the end of the battle. After her stoneskins saved her from the dragon’s initial attacks she dropped her bow and was able to tumble away from the dragon when Xaveus moved forward to fight. She is still very close to the ongoing combat.

Ariessus: Once the dragon appeared in the tunnel Ari hurried down to try and help deal with it. She was right next to Nikki when the glass floor appeared and had to spend several rounds carefully moving towards a wall. She ended up slipping and having her sword fall to the ground at one point. Once to safety she cast Protection from Evil on herself and also tried to use Detect Magic to sense the dragon after the fog appeared. She discovered that the entire cavern glowed with magic. Ari then moved towards the exit, only to find herself right in the middle of the battle with the dragon when it attacked Shadow. She is currently nose to nose with the dragon - alone.

Diana: The Chosen of Isis used several of her curative spells on Thengal, topping them off with a Cure Critical Wounds spell from a scroll that almost completely healed the dour fighter. She also gave him a potion of growth, which he split with Xaveus. When Thengal and Xaveus went to go help fight, Diana was able to sense that Thengal was going the wrong direction through the combat empathy spell. Once Thengal returned she followed him towards the fight until he fell. She then pressed on alone.

Castinar: After moving forward and assuring that Shadow was OK Castinar moved across the tunnel and set up to attack. When the dragon didn’t show and the fog descended the gray druid slowly made his way forward over the course of several rounds. When the dragon attacked Shadow he ran out to help defend her, dispelling several of the dragon’s remaining mirror image spells with his attacks. He is currently on the dragon’s flank, although he’s not sure if it is really the dragon or another mirror image.

Amber: After helping Diana heal Thengal Amber hitched a ride with the enlarged Xaveus towards the fight. After several rounds of travel Xaveus put her down and continued on alone. She has been slowly making her way towards the fight since that time and is now about 30’ away from the fight.

Xaveus: After drinking half of Diana’s Potion of Growth Xaveus headed towards the fight, Amber under his arm. When they got close he put her down and continued on alone. He got there in time to cover Shadow’s retreat, but lost several stoneskins in the process. He then phased into the stone behind him, planning on stone-walking to flank the dragon.

Nikki: The blue witch had quite and interesting night. After casting Chaos Shield to protect herself she started letting loose with Reckless Dweomer spells, attempting to dispel the dragon’s mirror images. Her first spell caused the ground beneath her feet out to 60’ turn to a very smooth and slippery glass 10’ deep. Her second surge filled the entire cavern with fog (later (maybe) the party will figure out that the entire area has been affected by a huge "Guards and Wards" spell). After carefully moving off of the glass Nikki started to flee deeper into the cavern rather than out of the tunnel. She is currently by herself deep in the dragon’s lair.

Thengal: After receiving quite a bit of healing magic and taking half of a potion of growth (he and Xaveus are now the size of hill giants) Thengal started towards the fighting. However, when he reached the wall he somehow made a wrong turn and ended up traveling in the wrong direction for a couple of rounds until Diana called to him. He then quickly returned and started heading towards the battle once more, but this time slipped on the slick glass. He is currently prone on the glass and will need to take a round to carefully stand up.

The Dragon: After somehow teleporting to block the escape tunnel the dragon spent several rounds casting spells. The one the party knows it cast is Mirror Image. They suspect it cast one if not two more. Nikki’s fog gave it pause, but after a few moments it decided this was a really good thing. It taunted Nikki, telling her that the fog was bad for the party (since they can’t see far now) while he can still sense where they party members are. After Nikki taunted him back and asked why he wasn’t backing up his claims that he would destroy the party with action the dragon attacked Shadow. He then faced Xaveus for one round and now faces Ariessus, with Castinar attacking from the flank.

So, current situations:

Matar: only about 12’ from the dragon, walking wounded, herbs in hand

Katrina: up on wall 110’, heading out

Sane: flying very fast 50’ off the ground, hugging wall, heading out

Shadow: next to Matar, now standing, nothing in hand

Ariessus: sword and shield ready, right in front of the dragon

Diana: still a ways from the fight, moving towards it

Castinar: on the dragon’s flank, attacking with Finslayer

Amber: approaching the battle along the wall

Xaveus: in the stone of the tunnel wall

Nikki: moving south, but considering spells (Judd - did you want to cast Wraithform last round??)

Thengal: prone, has to stand and then make his way towards the fight

Notes:

The ground where there is glass (light blue circle on the ground) is very slippery. Safe movement rate is 1/4 normal, 1/2 if you can put one hand on the wall.

Remember visibility in here is only 10’. There are some faint lights flickering and darting around in the tunnel area, but other than that most everything remains dark and foggy.

The combat.gif map shows a 10’ grid around the combat. The lair.gif map is a 50’ grid showing the known caverns and positions of those far away from the combat.

The battle grid is also updated.

Questions?

I won’t be trying to do an e-mail turn this week, so unless you have any questions stand by until next Friday. Feel free to do some additional OOC coordination if you wish.

Saif