Chapter 16

The Caravan vs. 101 Dragons

The heroes had discussed staying at the village they were at since the walls were mostly intact, but instead decided to fight it in a column. The dragons may not attack and then flee when the elven company arrives. Then the road would be shut down. The White Foxes had already stretched their rules since the danger was still unknown. They were hopeful that the dragons wouldn't fight until the end if they all saw what was happening. As long as there wasn't a green dragon around, they figured they had a good chance of breaking the dragons up before too many deaths occurred. They really couldn't afford to lose any horses, but it was bound to happen. The horses would panic, and then they would likely die. Maybe the dragons would leave them alone?

Manuel was flying and seeing if he could see any dragons. The day was waning, and they did not want to fight the dragons at night. It would make everything harder. They would certainly lose a lot more. At twilight, he finally saw the dragons. A large green dragon and a large company of dragon minions. They were headed in front of the wagons to ambush the caravan. This was going to be a late-night brawl. The elves that hadn't leveled yet would be worthless, as they would not be able to see enough. At least he could see a gibbous moon and stars. He signaled for the caravan to stop and prepare. They would fight here. He would go engage the green dragon in personal combat if it held back. Allowing it to fly over and use its breath weapon was not an option. He went to the guard wagon to get a potion of acid protection.

The wagons were quickly set up, and all the commoners took cover in the second and third passenger wagons. Raire helped Allie and Ambrose get up to the top of the chicken wagon, and Ambrose started putting up a railing. The goblins, other than Blaze, had four people each on top of the war wagons. Syran and Raythiel, inside the war wagons, activated the wards. It would at least temporarily prevent damage to the wagons or goblins. The battle wagons were very exposed, but that was the plan. Blaze decided to fight with Phenaquar and Olier. She figured a couple of ice cones and three healing spells might make a difference. The two guard wagons were offset so they could fire down the entire length of the wagons, one to each side.

Everything was ready, and Devoe gave commands to stay no matter what and attack what was in front of them. Nobody knew if that would really keep the animals from panicking, but the die was cast. The summoner was pretty far away in a tree; he wouldn't be able to see much of the battle, and he would have to rely on people shouting the conditions to him.

The dragons, seeing that their ambush had failed, waited until dark so that they could use their infravision as well as twilight vision. Once the dragons were in position, the plan was for the dragon to make a pass with its breath weapon. The green dragon didn't get the chance.

* Shard #31 Roll for initiative!

* Shard #31 Surprise Round

Manuel, having been under an invisibility spell cast on him for free by Almeil, unleashed his surprise cone of cold on the unsuspecting dragon and her advanced minions. He inflicted a devastating attack; the three advanced minions didn't have a chance, and even the green dragon barely withstood the icy blast.

* Shard #31 Round 1

Fortunately for the dragon, she won the initiative. She took off and flew, not to the wagon but to the north, at a speed Manuel could never match, and she wasn't planning on stopping anytime soon.

The breath weapon and screams, although both of a different kind than the dragons were expecting, set off the attack. About half of the dragon minions charged out of the woods and into the wagons. Phenaquar's warhorse and four other horses were badly hurt in the charge.

The front and rear guard wagons' wards flared, and both died in the first round of attacks as the dragons swarmed them to get to the tasty "Woodlings" on top of the wagons. Some other wagons and Devoe also took some minor damage. The other object that took major damage was wagon number two. The girls all failed their dexterity saves as there were six of them packed into the wagons as the sides of the wagons became splinters. The girls took one hit point of damage from the splinters (half of their hit points). The doors and windows were destroyed. The dragons had found a tasty Woodling and five of elf maidens! How lucky!

The wands flashed lightning bolts down the sides of the caravan, not quite reaching all the way down. Seven minions died and a dozen more were wounded.

In the flash, Star and Tira saw two dragons outside their windows and stabbed them; Star's went down for the count as she easily killed it. Tira scratched hers, but then the cold damage from the spell on the weapon finished it.

Raire put an arrow on each of the wounded dragons on her side, between the chicken wagon and wagon two, killing both of them. Ambrose missed, and Allie fell over the railing and onto the sole dragon down below, successfully hitting it, I suppose.

Phenaquar opened the wagon door and saw a dragon, so he stabbed it to death. Olier stabbed a dragon on the other side of a wagon shade, the sneak attack damage killing it. Blaze stepped out of the wagon ten feet in case the war wagon fired again, then applied a cold cone to two dragons devouring horses. The ice cone ended those two threats.

Devoe thrust his horn into the one eating him, and the dragon went down. A horse managed to kill another dragon. Unfortunately, nine of the horses had enough of lightning bolts and dragons and fled in random directions, Devoe not being able to calm them down, into the mass of dragons that had still not charged in. Devoe and the four wounded horses healed three hit points, and the summoner was down five mana points.

The goblins attacked, and one landed a solid hit.

Manuel flew back towards the front war wagon to find some more dragons to kill.

Results of the surprise round and round one:

Three advanced minions were killed, and 17 normal dragon minions were defeated. Seven advanced minions are left, while 72 minions remain.

* Shard #31: Round 2, start!

Eight lucky dragons each got a "Woodling" to take home; the poor goblins were no match for the minions, and they fled with their prizes. The other seven dragons, which included two advanced dragons that were also attacking the war wagons, chased them to contest the woodlings. Eight dragons in the northeast got a horse to share. Even better, it was regenerating inside their stomachs! What a great meal! The same happened all along the edge of the enchanted path, as there was much munching and crunching. A couple of horses managed to escape this peril by happenstance. The last dragon at wagon two tried to grab the last woodling, but Zip's armor repelled the attack. The dragon at wagon 3 tried to eat Galiel but missed somehow. The dragon Allie was sitting on tried to wiggle out from under her and failed.

The six girls in wagon one had their hit point regenerated, costing six mana points; then they left their broken wagon and went into wagon one, as the coast was clear now.

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Syran saw all the dragons around his wagon run off with the goblins; he let them go and fired a shot at the dragons eating the horse, hitting three of them and killing one. Raythiel felt bad for the goblins, but he took the same kind of shot, killing a dragon and wounding two more, one of whom was an advanced minion.

Tira unleased a cone of cold on a half-dozen dragons eating a horse and wounded all of them. Star killed the dragon attacking the war horse.

Riare wounded a dragon eating a horse with an arrow. Ambrose fired an arrow to nowhere in particular. Allie scrambled back up the chicken wagon, using her climb (armored) skill.

Phenaquar exited the wagon finally and saw the dragon trying to eat Galiel, so he charged west to and killed it with his long sword. Olier hid in the wagon, waiting for another chance to stab a dragon. Blaze went back into the wagon, as she felt sort of vulnerable seeing as how all the other goblins had been carried off.

Devoe healed another three hit points and charged the dragon attacking a horse near the front battle wagon. Already wounded, the dragon was actually killed by Slyphianne with her lance.

None of the horses were engaged in combat now; four of them healed, and seven came to life as the regeneration kicked in, draining 70 mana points from the summoner all at once. draining all of his third level mana and taking him down to 27 fourth level mana. He went into mana burn, his concentration failed, and his spell making the goblins seem like woodlings failed. The regeneration spell went down as well. Almeil would be stunned for three turns, effectively knocking their only high level hero out of the fight.

Manuel felt his master's distress and descended on Horse 3's foes, finally failing to kill one outright, but unfortunately for the dragon, it had already taken damage from Tira's cone of cold. It didn't make it. Unfortunately for the other four wounded dragons that were there, Manuel has great cleave, the other four didn't make it either.

* Shard #31 End of round 2

Results of round 2

Seven horses were killed, but they got better.

Almeil suffered 30 rounds of mana burn and stun, effectively out of the fight and his spells were failing.

11 minions were killed, and one advanced.

14 dragons and one advanced left the battlefield.

The morale of five advanced dragons and 47 minions remains high; there is no morale check, and the battle continues.

Shard #31: Round 3 begins.

The seven dragons who ate Horse One were treated to a much tastier horse with a golden horn and an elf maiden on top! They were able to charge Devoe and Slyphianne. Slyphianne was knocked unconscious and suffered two negative health advancements, and Devoe was badly wounded! The rest surrounded the unicorn!

Four dragons charged Manuel, and they all missed. Manuel smiled.

Eight dragons that had been munching happily on horses the previous round to the east of wagon one saw five helpless elf maidens and a Woodling clamber into wagon one. Five of them failed their will check and badly charged the wagon, and once again they entered into lightning bolt formation. They did considerable damage to the wagon and almost tipped it over. The girls screamed in horror. The ten remaining dragons on the west and south sides of the caravan, other than the four engaging Manuel, headed towards the battle wagon to charge and destroy it next round to try to stop the lightning. The remaining 23 dragons on the east side, who were some distance from the fight, decided waste not, want not, and ate the regenerated horses again; there was no coming back this time. The dragon that had been fallen on and struck by lightning got up and left the battle; he had enough of war.

Raythiel had a nice line of five dragons and fired the third charge, the bolt did incredible damage and killed all five dragons. Sryan fired into the dragons surrounding the unicorn, wounding one and killing two, one of which he had hit last round. There were five left.

Tira and Star charged into the dragons attacking Defoe and Slyphianne. finishing off the two wounded ones. Now there were three.

Raire, Alliasaz, and Ambrose fired at the noises eating the horses in the brush. Allie and Raire happen to hit the same dragon—two messages for you, sir!

Phenaquar, finding himself alone, followed the noises in the brush, heading back towards the rear guard wagon. Olier and Blaze waited in wagon four for something to happen.

Devoe teleported out to save himself and Slyphianne. Both were out of the fight.

The warhorse heard his master moving around in his armor and ran to the south, catching up with Phenaquar.

The wounded horse number two decided she would follow the war horse anywhere, and so she did.

None of the other horses did anything remarkable.

Manuel used great cleave to hit, but he did not quite finish off all four of his opponents.

The girls screamed again as lightning bolts roared, except for Zip, who exited the wagon and started fighting the two dragons that were still outside the wagon, slicing one in the leg.

end of round 3.

Results of round 3

Four horses died.

Slyphianne and Devoe are out of the fight.

Nine dragons died.

Five advanced and 38 dragon minions remain. The dragons pass their morale check, and the fight continues.

* Shard #31: Round 4, fight!

A dragon successfully bites Manuel, causing him to lose 6% of his health, but he appears unconcerned.

Tira gets a minor bite, and Star gets bitten for a third of her hit points. star looks concerned.

A dragon carefully bites Zip and runs off with her! The other wounded dragon gives chase!

Ten dragons charge the rear guard wagon with Raythiel inside. They break holes in the wagon, and now just have to find the Wood elfess filling!

Some dragons, annoyed by archer fire, go to kill the archers. Three dragons attempt to parkour up the chicken wagon! One of them makes it up; the other two hear chickens! Others start appearing out of the foliage to see if there are any more horses to eat, and it turns out there are! They head to the two good horses that listened to the unicorn.

Raythiel wonders if she can learn cold bolt in the next few seconds, decides she can't, and casts and holds a healing spell.

Syran sees dragons emerge from the bush, and looking at the horses, he fires a lightning bolt at them to discourage them. The lightning bolt fries two of them.

Tira uses the Dance of Spring to heal Star. Star cuts down another dragon with a vicious critical hit and follows it up with another completely unnecessary strike to take the dragon's head. There are two left who are fighting now. They see a couple of dragons running off with Zip.

Allie draws her sword, steps in front of the heavy dragon on the chicken wagon, and swings her bronze sword while completely off balance. Raire fires two arrows into it. Ambrose fires in its general direction, the wagon roof makes a bad sound, and Allie and the dragon fall through the chicken wagon roof and bounce off some cages. Allie falls into the egg incubator storage, and the dragon breaks something falling into the baby chick tubs. Many feathers fly around!

Blaze sees all the dragons in the cone of cold formation and casts the cone of cold. Burr! The dragons, who are all jumbled together, feel the freezer burn. One of the dragons who looks over to see what happened got a dagger to his eyeball courtesy of Olier. Then Phenaquar and two horses charged the others. They miss all of their attacks, ruining a chance to route them.

Manuel doesn't finish off his dragons, and instead takes to the air to go rescue Zip as directed by Star. Syran turns the lighting wand towards them.

Zip tries to stab the dragon carrying her off, but the knife bounces off the dragon's scales.

* Shard 31: End of Round 4

Results of round four

Zip is kidnapped.

The dragons break the rear guard wagon.

Allie trips and falls again.

Ambrose is really bad at archery.

Four dragons die.

Five advanced and 34 dragon minions remain

All but the enraged and hungry chicken dragons, as well as those transporting Zip, fail their morale checks. Combat continues.

* Shard #31 Preacher, give me the strength for round five! Fight!

The four dragons that were fighting Manuel limp away, out of the fight.

The two dragons fighting the sword maidens attempt to flee! Tira hits one with a critical strike, dropping it, and Star wounds the other one, who runs away.

The two dragons outside the chicken wagon attempt to force their way in. They succeed in forcing the door. They each grab a chicken! The dragon, laid out against the partially flattened chick tubs, groans and passes out from the pain.

The dragons surrounding the broken rear guard wagon attempt to flee. The mare bites one, and Phenaquar stabs one as they flee.

The dragon carrying Zip is outrunning its pursuer, who has stopped chasing him! He has gained a Woodling! These things are really expensive!

Manuel explains to the dragon that he really doesn't have a Woodling by lightly stabbing him in the back for over half of his hit points. The dragon flings Zip up into the air to divert the angel and runs through some brush to try to throw Manuel off his trail. He is successful because Manuel grabs Zip instead of pursuing. Ambrose launches one last attack at the fleeing chicken thieves and succeeds! For all of two points of damage. Raire broke her bowstring. Allie lies trembling and wounded in a pool of warm, broken eggs and dragon blood.

* Shard #31: End of combat rounds