Session 57: Blue Dragon Attacks Report

The Menagerie Fight a Blue Dragon... And become The Wild Cards

General Summary


 
NEED TO FINISH & CLEAN UP!!
07/18/2023

09/06/2023

The Mighty Menagerie (3)

Redfall 08, 2023 KC, late evening

Above Kampos East Side Recap

------ discussions of "Chaos Incarnate"... later turned into The Wild Cards. The ship was titled "The Audacity" day 7 the 8th... nighttime around 1.5 days with current speed... long rest, carved Wyvern late into the evening. Guards: Bastion, reads (4) sees nothing

flatter lands. Seems closer to shore, less forests.

Barlo

Redfall 09, 2023 KC, late evening

Above Kampos East Side

Eight Day of Flight Sas (19) Weather is clearing up Shadow 10, Navigation is doing okay Calliope (3) morale takes a dive Bastion (5), Barlo (16) nav... morale is slipping. (Detour on nerves, and a lot of fights. whispers of looking into security on ship. Rumors of what people do on more expensive ships and weaponry.) weather clear. slight mist/fog in AM, clearing out early. No real events occur... a couple hours into the morning. The coastline is coming up. Below them is a large expansive Petrified forest.

Barlo is doing training with Calliope... "As you Fly over the coast, you see a vast expanse of Petrified forest stretching out before you. The trees are all different colors, from the deep red of the Petrified redwoods to the bright yellow of the Petrified pines. The forest is so large that it seems to go on forever." They are now flying over it on their way to the shore. concerns/lore... aware they are on the right path. Many of them have heard of this forest, and it is west of Outding. No one goes here, there are rumors of a Blue Dragon. Old enough that many are afraid of it, but maybe not an Ancient Dragon. Probably has a lair here. close to lunch time... shadow and Arktos hanging at mast. Bastion reading. Barlo wanted to do some fighting combat training with Calliope. Some fighting/Shield training. Sas is in room snacking and working on potions Barlo on top deck, calliope wants to make a show to help the morale. Barlo gives her a dagger to come at him, and then some Shield practice. a little crossbow training. calliope performance good, helps morale. Shadow is reading the cursed book, Making Friends: A History of Necromancy The book is plain, white X marks on the back. History (10) not much about author, Xzar this book is erratic, insane, vile, and in no coherent way... as she reads it, she gets a strange tingle as she reads it. Staves off some injury, but then she freezes, only able to move her eyes. Arktos realizes something is off, about 2 minutes later. he comes up and starts sniffing and looks around at ship, sees Barlo and Calliope... he goes up to Barlo. Snaps a bit at his leg. then nudges him towards shadow. She's breathing. He yells shadow. She sees him. looks at him and the book... Barlo "SAS!" he moves teh book away and shakes her. As he boots the book there is a grey mist that was there just a moment. This is similar to when a Monk does their stun. the shaking doesn't help. he then tells bastion to do something with the book. Bastion feels some heat in the book, casts Dispel Magic. ...As he casts it, the heat dissipates. It seems teh forboding feeling he was getting since he picked up the book... as we hit the 9 minute mark she is okay. She said she meant to read a Rock book, this was written by some insane guy. Suggested giving to Outding library, or get rid of it, or ... It seems the DP is currently helping. He then casts Remove Curse and is sure this should help for now and free Shadow from any possible future issues. lots of burning book ideas... put it in the Bag of Holding (or haversack)... Now, Shadow takes This Ore That, Choosing your First Rock Golem and reads it. History (18) written by Wizard Safiya. not so insane. Legitimate book. goes into golem magic. Int (4), not focused enough. Not getting much, but can tell there is a lot more to learn if read with more focus. Does learn about golems made to just follow creator's orders. Could be made if one had a tome with the knowledge. Barlo tries to use the incident as a learning incident "what would you do if that was Shadow turned against us" She would have used her lute to stop her or Polymorph into a bird to flee and find help... Bastion was reading Hamund's Harvesting Handbook Int (23). If he reads this book for 100 hours he is sure he will gain proficiency in the harvesting tools. He has 2 down. Sas is back in her room. perception checks... Captain Screams "DRAGON!!" and behind there is a Blue Dragon coming out of the trees. Bastion holds Scorching Ray Shadow knocks an arrow and yells at Sas Perception on age... looks to be an adult. Wingspan, around 30 ft. a couple hundred years. various injuries in the scales. Shadow is sure it is not cold or fire... asks what their breath is Bastion is sure that it is lightning. Barlo and Calliope discuss how she can take their lesson and she should turn into a bird, but Barlo reminds her that she has her Friends here so she shouldn't turn into a bird and Fly away... then Sas turns into a Giant Eagle and begins to take flight.




Adult Blue Dragon: UNNAMED Blue Dragon of Kampos

The Battle:

R.1

Shadow goes to the Captain deck and shoots at the Dragon. First she casts Hunter's Mark and fires as she yells "You don't want to do this!" in Draconic. Hits. misses. Ducks. Bastion releases his Scorching Ray... all but one hits. the Dragon's Fear waves over many of the crew. Calliope uses a bardic inspiration to help Barlo's failed save. Bastion and Calliope are afraid for the next 1 minute. Barlo runs up the crows nest. Rage. crossbow shot (using a critical bolt) misses, hits a scale and bounces off. He throws down the crossbow, and yells "RIght HERE!" and shows his claws. The Dragon catches up. in Draconic he says somethng... a guttural sounds. Dragon speaks Draconic

"She said you would be coming this way..."

Shadow responds "Who said so?" (Through the bannisters) Bastion "What?" Shadow it said someone told it we'd be coming this way The Dragon is on the side and unleashes a long trail of lighting out of its mouth. Sas, Bastion, Tomas Swalin, Calliope Tomas is not a Rogue, and plot Armor points

For some reason I was thinking and stating that Tomas is a rogue. He is not. I also gave the crew some plot Armor this session as I had not figured out their HP/AC and so felt it would have been unfair to kill them. That has since been corrected and there is now a risk they could die. For the most part, their focus is on the ship and so will only be a part of conflicts minimally. also, tabletalk: Ship is about 100 feet in the air as they were trying to not go too high and the captain changes altitude to gain speed as the air moves at different speeds at different layers.

70 points of lightning damage and the Giant Eagle goes back down to Tortle form. Calliope is Unconscious. Tomas was saved by plot Armor, but is near death's door. The crew had the magonel still loaded, but was not willing to risk damaging the ship as the Dragon was too close. They pull out crossbows and attack. Tomas runs to the captain's quarters and is smacked by the Dragon's tail. he hits the table. Calliope Death Save 1

Calliope rolled a 19

Sas casts Chill Touch and this gigantic spectral hand with various mushrooms and spores appears and connects. She then moves towards Calliope. Bastion Bladesinger casts Hex and then Magic Missile, hexing its strength. Somehow this connected which shouldn't have. Hex should not stack with Magic Missile. He then moves, screaming "kick his ass, Barlo". Legendary Action. Tail attack on the mast, damages the ship. Barlo is almost knocked out, but it does cause one of the crew to fall out of the crow's nest. It was the cook, Lenu Ronas.

r.2

Shadow drops Hunter's Mark, and casts Ensnaring Strike. She hits, he succeeds in his save. both arrows strike and hit though. They pierce into spots singed by the Hex/Magic Missile attacks. The Ensnaring Strike fails to connect as tiny electrical sparks spring up and stop them. Arktos (has 6 ferocity), flanks Calliope Galanodel and takes the dodge. Legendary Action. Claw attacks on the sails to try and bring the ship down. Barlo shouts down to sas "Get you and calliope down below!" then jumps on the Dragon. He took some bludgeoning damage as it was a large fall. The goal was to hold on and attack with slash attacks. So far a stable grapple. CRIT on the first attack, second misses, but the third attack connects and shatters a weak scale. Rule of Cool on jumping onto a much larger creature

This sounds easy, but isn't. It is a grapple of sorts with many checks as they can buck you off. Athletics. Whenever the Dragon moved it would be a new grapple.

Attack on Bastion and he is at 1 hit point. He flies off the ship and below it. The crew is concerned about the ship. Bastion tells them to not worry about him, get away. Shadow tells the captain to turn starboard, and hover! He turns. Lenu Ronas goes below deck. One of the crew stabilizes Calliope so she doesn't need to do death saves, same with the cook. The crew uses the ballista. As it hits it almost bucks off Barlo Legendary Action Smacks its tail on Barlo. This one knocks Barlo loose, he uses his opportunity attack to try and grab back on (rule of cool again). As he is sliding off he grabs back on, grabbing the tail. Calliope has 2 hours until she wakes up. Sas moves towards Shadow, casts Polymorph to turn her into a Giant Eagle and holds it for her to be closer. Barlo realizes they should have handed access to potions to the crew for such emergencies. Legendary Action. He smacks the tail on his back, hurts Barlo -- but he is still holding on. Bastion does his Hex/Magic Missile trick which seems to connect again... Which kills it.



☠️Adult Blue Dragon killed by Bastion Bladesinger

 



t Combat Experience: 15000 (3000 Each) | Total: 74,000 (Next Goal: 85,000) t

The Dragon and Barlo fall to the ground. Shadow polymorphs, and flies down. Bastion tells the ship to land. Captain Johnas Scott asks what to do. They land near the Dragon where Barlo is atop it with two thumbs up. the captain was proud of his first official landing. The crew begin to mend the wounded, take Calliope to her bed. They were going to, but Sas said she could do some healing. Shadow waits by Barlo. Sas heals 6 people. Shadow takes to the air and does some flying, Bastion suggests she return to do the dissections due to metagame rests. During the flight the group takes a short rest. [spoiler] the value is total for the pieces total. |value on thievesguild [spoiler]




Blue Dragon Wings (gentle repose) put in ship
Large bag of Blue Dragon Scales (45 lbs.)
Blue Dragon Breath Pouch
Blue Dragon Horn
one decent Bone (100 gp)
Some blood
Some meat... some decent meat though. kept in ship's storage.

Gen lots of dissections, late into the evening. The crew doing repairs. Arktos is eating what he finds, and actually starts eating some of the choice meat that Barlo was trying to preserve. around 9-10 hours of cutting into the thing. They are on the edge of the Fossilized Forest as it is on the rocky beachline with the water not too far off. Bastion goes off to do a long rest. As the party helps clean the Tabaxi an elderly man comes around the from the backside of the Dragon carcass. Grey ratty cloak and cut up, it is old and fraying. A blue Light coming off his hands as he keeps them aimed down. He sees Sas, "we haven't met before this point, right?" Sas: "I don't think so." Old man: "Good, I think I can get it right this time as it will be my last time attempting this and I don't have very long." Sas: "I'm sorry, try what?" Old man looks over, sees Barlo: "Nice to see you Smiles." This appears to be a very old version of Captain Meklan (Grognard) Meklan: "I don't really have a lot of time to maintain this presence and it is difficult, as you know I am also being followed in this time stream. There is a way to fix this. In the morning, Bastion will remember. RIght now I have to be careful in what I say as I've tried this many times and I've said different things when I've told you things before. I've done this many times, telling you guys things only to find an earlier version of me and stopping them from telling you those things. It's confusing, I know. Time travel is stupid, don't ever spend your life doing what I did. I can answer a little bit right now though... Barlo: "Why are you doing this? Meklan: "So, there were things I was trying to fix.. the biggest being the destruction of, ... I think what is safe to tell you is that -- as you've learned by now, the old world that was once here, it was Toril and is now the gem one of you now holds. In that realm was a powerful culture of man - the Netherese. One of them was a powerful Wizard, Karsus who tried to become a god. He screwed up the spell and instead of becoming a god he only became a god for a moment -- destroying everything. It was his folly, but it was kind of my fault. I stole the spell from him, before he used it. The reason I keep coming to you right now is that you hold the book still. That book holds the actual Karsus Avatar spell, and I believe it is the way to defeat the Dragon That Slumbers. Shadow: "What book?" Meklan: "The book you took from the Meenlocks, the one I originally hired your brother to steal. Shadow: "We openned it, I thought we ... Meklan: "You need the cube. That's why Jacoby is chasing me, without the cube you will be cursed by trying to use just the book and the sigil. He and I are both jumping in and out of time and space. Shadow: "We need to retrieve the cube stolen from Barlo Meklan: "I tried to keep them with Barlo Barlo: "I thought it was just a toy Meklan: "It wasn't. I tried to hide its purpose. I tried to manipulate some other events so it would return to your possession, but that didn't Work... The one thing I can tell you is I have tried to fix this quite a few different ways, I even learned that repeating the very same things could produce very different results -- You are the Wild Cards. and the name was born Shadow: "we are the chaos incarnate, you are saying? Meklan: "Pretty much. I even tried to control Bastion's destiny when he was growing up, I thought if I could only Lead him down the path I thought best to fix these mistakes... the point is I have made mistakes with my time travel and I've been trying to fix them, which has made things worse. That book holds one of the most powerful spells ever created, and I am sure Bastion can fill you in more about it. I also know that on the ship you have Professor Umbercresct who knows a lot about the Netheril which can help... I think.. hm,... and his mouth starts moving but he vanishes out. as Barlo asks "But, wait... where is Joshua?" Shadow: "Who is Joshua, Barlo?" Barlo: "This son of a bitch smuggler son-a-bitch, we ran in similar circles. He conned me out of my cubes -- he stole them practicaly. I didn't know they were that important, though. Shadow: "How would you have known? Barlo: "I do have someone out looking for him, though. Shadow: "Maybe Lars can help us scry, can you describe him? Barlo: "Yeah, I can describe him. Shadow: "We should pull out the Basalt's Magic Ball [sm]Barlo's fixation shifts[/sm] Shadow: "should we ask the ball? Barlo: "Yes, ask it if he still has the cubes. .. they were just gaming dice, I thought.

Q. "Is Joshua still in possession of the cubes that Barlo and Grognard are talking about?" A."Reply Hazy, try again later".

Meanwhile... Bastion was in his trance... His trances shows events of the Elf's life, but come off as Dreams. Then one crackles and shakes a bit, now he is in one of his own memories. He was young, and training with his swords. The early form of bladesinging he had been studying, he was sure he had enough time to train before Grognard returned. But then the door openned up very fast -- Grognard came in, disheveled, and Bastion was panicked. Bastion tried to hide the sword, but Grognard gave a disapproving look: "I know what you were doing, and I don't have time." Bastion remembers this event, but then he doesn't recall much after it. It's odd, almost a new memory as he sees Grognard go to the side and grab a large sand timer, a 10-minute timer. He turns it over and looks at Bastion. Grognard: "I need you to sit and listen, now. I don't have long. he sits down, worried he is in trouble, but then Grognard says: "I know why you're worried. Don't. I don't have time to discuss that now. Although the version of me you will exist with for now will continue to get on your case about this, sorry about that. I do understand now, and I accept it. I think we can still use this for what needs to get done. Understand, this is not the first time I have come to you and spoken to you like this -- but I do think I will let you have this memory back, one day. I keep trying to find little quiet moments in your lives, in those who travel with you to give you little clues and assistance... (Bastion feels this is crazy talk as at the time he had no clue what Grognard was going on about.) Grognard sees the confused look: "I see you are confused, that doesn't matter now. I will soon erase the memories of this discussion and I will return them later.. possibly. (looks at the sand timer), Oh, I am running out of time for this. ... this has to be the one... Okay, the main point is that the book you have is important. You need to protect it. You don't have the book now, but in the future when you regain this memory you will have the book. The things to think about then is how this book ties into Dendar the Night Serpent and the Draconic Prophecies -- this is what I've pushing to really manipulate with my actions. Most of my changes have... no. you know what, that should be enough without being too much... oh, the book holds Karsus' Avatar -- the real spell, the one he was to perform that day and not the one I replaced it with. Only in Dierde will such magic Work as the god's blocking of such high level magic no longer exists, it's complicated. The point is that high level magic as the Netherese once performed can once again be done, although this is not common knowledge at all. Most of those spells are lost, but it might be possible to use the spell to use the orbs and create new realms. I've been trying to find other ways to create such rebirth - but all the ways I've tried have failed. he starts to cast a spell, at the time Bastion was unaware of the spell. It was a Modify Memory and it seems in present time Grognard has released the spell to return the true memory. He goes and tells the team. He tells them how this was a released memory to replace a lecture he thought he once had. They tell him about their experience. They also briefly bring up the Professor Orb version of Professor Meklan of Toril.




t Milestone Experience | 1000 Total: 75,000 (Next Goal: 85,000 ) t

**Left at their campsite about to take a long rest**

Rewards Granted

Experience

t Combat Experience: 15000 (3000 Each) | Total: 74,000 (Next Goal: 85,000) t t Milestone Experience | 1000 Total: 75,000 (Next Goal: 85,000 )

Missions/Quests Completed

Character(s) interacted with

Characters

Creatures

Created Content

2023

10 (Redfall)

Redfall 08-09, 2023 KC

The Wild Cards head to Outding Refuge

Redfall 09, 2023 KC

The Wild Cards fight a Dragon

— Timeline of The Mighty Menagerie