The Mountain Pass

[Spanningtree]

Dieter - Mage

Good thinking Grimes, let's not get caught in a group. We've seen what that can do. Maybe I deploy the fortress and we can use it for cover... If his staff does not light up or do something else that would bring attention to them he will engage protection from evil.

OCC: Does it appear to see the group yet? What are their current surroundings? Any cover?

[tumblingdice]

Castinus ponders the fate of those who perished before them. At the sight of the dead lady, he can't help but think of Shae. It clouds his thoughts for many hours. The dragon snaps him out of his funk. He listens to Grimes and Dieter's conversation. "The fortress will probably draw attention to us," he cautions. Where would we set it up?"

[greyarea]

Protection from Evil is cast, as the staff does not give away your position. Dieter considers using the fortress for cover. Castinus questions that tactic.

Dandy watches the white wyrm. The white dragon is high in the sky, and appears to be lazily flying into and out of the cloud bank. If he's seen you no indication is given.

Grimes searches for non-fortress cover. There are few trees for cover but they are sparsely branched at this altitude. Boulders might be good to hide behind but would still provide clear views from above. Given that you are dark, moving objects against a mostly-white snow background, hiding is unlikely to be an option.

Calculations are run in your heads. On the horses it would take you roughly five minutes (one-half turn) to get to the cave entrance. For those meta-gaming, that's thirty rounds of combat potentially with the horses going at full tilt. Spacing yourselves in a way that means the drake cannot get you all with a single breath means a good round between each "release" of a player, raising that to 35 rounds of potential combat. And that's on a twenty-yard wide, winding trail with cliff on either side (see picture from last post) with one doozy of a drop off.

You can't tell how old the dragon is, not from this distance, but it took out an entire party of adventurers and good. Could be worse, coulda been a red dragon.

Actions?

Hit points and marching order
Grimes 46/46
--Furuk 59/59
Dieter 31/31 < magic missile x2, sleep, continual light, stinking cloud, fireball, lightning bolt, slow, Evard's black tentacles, arcane eye >
--Dandy 33/33 < CLW x6, Speak With Animals, Hold Person, Find Traps, Augury, Silence 15', Remove Curse, Dispel Magic, Protection from evil 10', CSW, create food and water >
Castinus 34/34
--Acquaire

Wouldn't it suck to get this far and then get killed by a dragon as you enter the caves?

[badams30]

Grimes - Fighter

Grimes shakes his head and says "That fortress is pretty good, but I think ol' worm guy would mess it up pretty quickly, plus I don't want to get frozen in a metal tomb. If that thing's gonna try to eat me, he's gonna have to work for it."

Grimes scratches his chin and then says "Hey Deets, do you know if these things can see invisible? If not, I could go to the side and create a diversion to buy some time for you all to make it to the cave. Wish I could fly, I'd fly up and hop on him like I did that black dragon and I'd give him hell." He ponders and with a goofy look says "Hey! If we can back up a bit, perhaps we can just wait till dark or see if the thing leaves."

OOC: Grimes is dumb enough to think a Grimes-sourced diversion just might work. Or maybe we have Grimes and Dieter go aside, Dieter hides fairly near Grimes and when Grimes tries to draw it's attention, Dieter can bumrush the thing with a well-placed fireball or something devestating while it's guard is down.

Grimes would like a go at that dragon. Not smart, but then again, the Champion of Poseidon is not know for his wisdom or sound mind.

[tumblingdice]

Castinus rifles through has pack, then produces a stoppered ceramic flask. He waves it playfully in his hand. "But you can fly," the thief tells Grimes. "This will get you high as a dragon. Seriously, it's a potion of flying. I don't know what happened the last time you hopped on a dragon, but I'd say you're nuts!"

He then produces his bag of tricks. "What if we pulled another animal out of this. Then you could poke it with your trident once, turn yourself invisible, then chase it that way," Castinus says, pointing away from the cave entrance. "Maybe the dragon would go for it."

[badams30]

Grimes - Fighter

A sly smile grows on Grimes' face and his eyes twinkle at the sight of the flask. "Fly, eh? Heh heh heh..." He turns and looks at the others and says "I'm up for it. What do you say? A little revenge for those fallen men back there?" Grimes pats Castinus on the back and says "Thanks, buddy. I can't think of a better use for this potion." And when Castinus mentions poking the dragon and running, Grimes gets wide eyed "Oh, I plan to chase it away, and then kill it. Can't let this potion go to waste, and what match is that flying lizard to me?"

He'll hold off on grabbing the potion till the others chime in... and yeah, he's a bit off.

[Spanningtree]

Dieter - Mage

Nah, not going to happen Grimes... were not leaving you behind. Your not going to fly around with it... nothing good would likely come of that. With a grin and wink. I think I should conjure an air elemental and send it after the dragon. Ask it to lead the beast into the clouds and fight it there.... Scratching his butt for a moment. If the dragon is victorious it will not be unscathed and we will be either at the caves or close by that time I would hope. We will be better able to fight it from there since it will be forced to the ground. Attack from the air is something we must take from it. Thoughts? He will say to the party.

[badams30]

Grimes - Fighter

Grimes gets a disappointed look and shrugs. "Ah well, I was looking forward to riding that thing. But the fate of the world is at stake here, so no time for fun stuff. Sounds like a good plan, Deets. Get that lizard on the ground though, I wanna poke him REAAAAL good!"

OOC: Grimes can go invisible and hide, and if we can get the dragon down, Grimes can give him a nice poking with Wave. Heck, if the elemental could hold him off long enough, a battle might be moot and we could run for it. It all depends. First plan could be to send the elemental to draw it away, and we make our move, and have a backup plan in case the thing comes back or isn't swayed from the location.... Oh, and if you want to give Grimes the potion to hold on to, if the plan goes way wrong, Grimes can still fly up and piss off the thing

[merias]

"Aye, ya can't be fightin' that thing yerself. We got yer back, if the elemental don't work out," Dandy says.

He has a scroll of Holy Word in hand in case it all goes south.

[Craigers07]

Furuk - Fighter

"Let's try the air elemental to keep it occupied. I would rather avoid the dragon and not fight it if possible."