Caelesti's notes

Date

9/28/2006

Log

To prepare for battle, Talon started singing to inspire courage in her companions.
Carric tried to open the stuck door beside him, but failed to.
Having just encountered two nasty dragons, Caelesti did not give this new dragon the chance to attack first; she cast magic missiles at it.
The dragon flew to be aligned with the walkway so that its breath-weapon could damage everyone.
Siobhan cast soundburst on the dragon, damaging it, but not stunning it.
Grimble flew up and out of the way of the expected dragon blast.

Talon continued to sing while she drew her crossbow and loaded it.
Carric started casting a summoning spell.
Caelesti cast more magic missiles at it and moved along the walkway towards it, since it was 15' higher, and passing right passed it.
The dragon breathed lightning on Talon and Siobhan, damaging both, and flew a tight circle to line up again.
Siobhan cast a second soundburst on the dragon.
Grimble flew up to the dragon from the side and affected it with Otto's irresistible dance. The dragon started to shuffle and couldn't maintain its flight, landing on the walkway near Caelesti.

Talon fired her crossbow at the dragon, missing.
Carric completed his summoning, and a hippogriff appeared and started attacking the dancing dragon.
The hippogriff hit with a claw and a bite.
Carric advanced on the dancing dragon and swung his scimitar at it, missing.
Caelesti fired more magic missiles at the dragon.
The dragon danced, allowing Carric to hit it with his scimitar, and the hippogriff to bite it.
Siobhan cheered on the party.
Having disabled the dragon, Grimble moved off to watch.

Talon cheered on the party.
Carric missed with his scimitar.
The hippogriff hit twice with its talons.
Caelesti fired a 4th volley of magic missiles, dropping it.

The demise of the dragon was followed by lots of congratulating and some talk about dragon treasure.

Siobhan opened the stuck door, and the party entered the inner keep. They went from room to room, trying to find a way to the tower that the dragon seemed to fly from.

Torches lit a large room on the north side of the keep. Since the party thought the complex was abandoned, Caelesti thought that the torches might be magical. She tested this theory by checking for heat by putting her hand near a torch; the torch was hot, and likely not magical. Shortly thereafter, Talon heard noises echoing up the stairwell she was near. She moved to the other stairwell, and also heard noises down below.

The party continued searching that level of the keep. On the southeast side, they found a long passage that had windows along it. The windows faced into the keep, so Caelesti moved to peek through one. One her way down the corridor, she triggered a dart trap. The dart zinged by her. Caelesti advanced further and triggered another dart trap, which also missed. Eventually she made it to the window and peered through.

Caelesti looked down upon a very large room. She saw some humanoid figures talking and others guarding. The peoples' eyes did not seem to blink, and they had long fingers and toes, each with long nails. Caelesti wondered if the figures were undead as she returned to the others, being careful to avoid the dart traps. Caelesti told the others what she saw. They could not identify the figures from Caelesti's description. Carric then convinced Grimble to spy through the same windows since he would be able to see more without being spotted (since he was usually invisible). Grimble reported a higher population and that one had the head of a snake.

There did not seem to be any way to get to the towers from the top floor they just explored. So the party had to choose to either go down the stairs to the creatures or up the outside of the tower and in through a window. Talon wanted to go down the stairs and parley. Everyone else wanted to try the climbing option first.

The party returned to the outside ledge. They talked Grimble into scouting the other three towers, and then to carry up a grappling hook with silk rope, and to set it in place. Gimble reported that there was a guard on the opposite tower, and set up the grappling hook at a window that would be hidden from the guard's view.

Before starting her climb, Caelesti cast message on everyone. Caelesti, Carric, and Siobhan then climbed up to the tower with little difficulty. Talon tried a few times, but was talked out of continuing. She said she would drink a fly Potion to join the party, but was talked out of that too. So, Talon started off waiting below.

The dragon's treasure, or part of it anyway, was in the tower. Carric cast detect magic, and the party gathered up what they felt was the best stuff. (Loot:)

Carric then suggested that Caelesti sneak down the stairs of the tower and see where they led. Several flights down, the stairs led to a square room. The stairs continued downward, but there was also a door to the keep. Caelesti return to the party to report. She said that it was possible that the stairs could lead to the big doors at the edge of the courtyard.

In the meantime, Talon began to wander off on her own. She entered the keep and moved to the room where she had heard the noises down below. Talon started to sneak down the stairs when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She began retreating, but the footsteps followed. Eventually, she seemed to leave her pursuers behind. She returned to the base of the tower and waited as if nothing happened.

Those in the tower climbed back down the knotted rope attached to the grappling hook, joining Talon at the bottom. Since the facet was not in the dragon's treasure, the party figured that they would have to converse with the residents. Caelesti suggested putting that off until the next day so that they could regain some of their spent magical energy.

The party worked their way out of the complex, resting a good distance away for the night.

Carric's comments

Carric moved toward the dragon right after Caelesti moved. He was then directly in front of it, but 15 feet below. Carric was trying to draw its attention, but instead the dragon didn't take the bait and the effect of his movement was to get himself out of its line of Lightning, which only hit Talon and Siobhan.