Dragonslaying

Thay

At Zárisse's command her minions set out to slay a copper dragon living just across the border in Rashemen.

Darya is put in charge of the operation and comes up with a plan after a few quick talks with Adventure Kids and Lothar.

Zárisse remains at home butDarya, Durr, Varadíya, Nestor, Lothar, three of the apprentice wizards, Adventure Kids, Astor, the now undead Blyknar and Radvan as well as a small host of skeletons are mustered for the task.

The plan is kept as simple as possible. Since the dragon is allied with a band of local barbarians the intrepid hunters decide to do their utmost to avoid detection through the use of as much Invisibility and Silence spells as are available, engage the dragon where it's powers of flight and arch of fire (or acid) is minimized and take it out as swiftly as possible.

As they eventually arrive to the forested valley where the dragon and the barbarians live they note that it's cave is located on a slope which fortunately fits quite well in with their plan.

Sneaking past the barbarian camps is comparatively easy and the dragon's cave is reached.

Darya, Blyknar, Radvan, Nestor and Lothar are made invisible and move in as advance force. When combat ensues the less stealthy warriors will move in as well as several of the skeletons to ensure that the dragon is surrounded on all sides.

Lothar is momentarily overcome by the aura of fear surrounding the huge beast and so loses valuable time. Meanwhile, Darya, Nestor and the wights take up their positions and engage the dragon in combat. At first things look grim as the dragon's scales are too thick to penetrate althoung Nestor manages to punch the beast in the eye causing agonizing damage. Dariya plies her bow and manages to penetrate a few times.

The dragon retaliates and lashes out with tail and claw at Nestor and the wights. Darya is treated to a blast of acid breath and only her lightning-quick reflexes saves her from taking the full force of the attack.

Now skeletons, Lothar, Durr and Varadíya also move in, an apprentice wizard in tow. The dragon finds itself surrounded and now the assailants start finding the weak spots in the draconic scales. Arrow after arrow flies true and Lothar smites the Good-aligned dragon, calling upon the powers of his God to wreak havoc on the dragon.

A lightning bolt from the wizard fails to overcome the natural resistance to magic that the dragon possesses and so magic plays only a limited role in this battle.

Eventually the mighty foe lies dead and although there are several wounded none are in such a bad shape that Sinead cannot heal them swiftly. A few of the already dead are in a state of disrepair but this can easily be fixed.

Soon afterwards, however, the rear guard calls out that the barbarians have been alerted by the sounds of battle. The gathering of spoils must be delayed while the shrieking savages are dealt with through a combination of arrows, magic and swords.

Commanding the band of skeletons to carry the dragon's corpse while as much gold and gems and other valuables the living can carry are brought along, the dragon slayers begin their journey home.

Although pursued by the barbarians at times, the latter are too disorganized to actually pose a real threat but Durr is found to be missing in action after a rear-guard battle.

After quite a while, however, the band of Thayvians and their kill slips across the border from Rashemen into Thay again.