Session 94 - Dragon vs Dragonborn
20th December 2024
In-game timeline: Start of session: 1490DR Mirtul 7. End of session: 1490DR Mirtul 7
Deep in enemy territory, in the Sintara clan village, our "heroes" are led at spearpoint before the village elders - two elderly, female dragonborn.
Focussing all attention on Jaxii, the elders interrogate the party as to the reason that they are here, and the group try to persuade the elders that they need help in saving the world. The elders are unimpressed, in the most, and ask why they should help on of their enemy.
The Sintarans do admit that they were visited by Neverember, and by Castellan and, although they try to hide it, the group get the distinct opinion that one of the elders revealed more to Castellan than she is letting on.
After more discussion, where the group say they do not believe that Graxis murdered Voldis, but offered no proof otherwise, and where our "heroes" expressed a desire to end the feud, but could not convince the elders that the rest of the Nakshatra clan were keen to do so too. In the end, the elders refused to offer any more information, or to provide more help, unless Jaxii became accepted by the Sintara clan by undertaking a trial of some sort. Eventually Jaxii accepted.
The group was separated, and, Jaxii led to a room containing food, drink and a selection of weapons and armour. The rest of the group were taken to the seats around a large, stone arena, cut into the rockside. Seemingly the whole remainder of the village slowly, but excitedly, filtered into the stands of the arena too, preparing to watch what seemed to be a very rare spectacle.
Jaxii was prepared to face an enemy in the arena, but was not told who, or what, this enemy was. She was informed that the fight would not be to the death - clerics would be on hand to revive the fallen - but the first to fall unconscious would be the loser. If Jaxii won, she would be accepted as a part of the Sintaran clan.
She was offered a choice of weapons and armour - she chose her own - and a choice of one of 5 potions - being informed that every 4 rounds of the contests the combatants would be expected to stop and have the opportunity to take one of the remaining potions.
Jaxii entered the arena, which was now filled with a mainly hostile crowd. There was no opponent in sight, but then someone entered the far side of the arena, to blow three blasts on a trumpet. At this point Jaxii's opponent appeared, flying down from the mountains above - a Green Dragon!
Jaxii acts fast, dashing to a pillar in an attempt to get cover, and throwing a javelin at the dragon. Derrick tries to distract the dragon by insulting it - this fails badly and Derrick only manages to boost the dragon's confidence instead. Jaxii's javelin throw misses. The dragon responds by landing atop the pillar that Jaxii is hiding behind, and then spews poison breath at Jaxii - she manages to dodge around the pillar, getting some cover from the breath but still taking significant poison damage.
Pausing for breath before the next attack, Karoshi tries to inspire Jaxii with some athletic cheerleading in front of the crowd. Unfortunately this serves more to annoy the dragon, riling him up and making him meaner. Jaxii looks up at the dragon and casts a fireball on top of the dragon. This hits the dragon square on and he fails to dodge out of the way, and he suffers major burns from the spell. In return he swoops down and attacks Jaxii with his bite and claws, slashing her badly, but her rage prevents the damage from being too severe.
Iwee tries to inspire Jaxii with some encouraging words - this she manages, giving Jaxii a boost to her attacks. This boost, along with the bardic inspiration given to her before the fight by Iwee, allows the dragonborn to pierce the dragon with a javelin, adding to the fire damage previously. The dragon responds with some close attacks, causing Jaxii more damage with a bite and claw attack.
The first break in the fighting occurs, and Jaxii has to take on a healing potion. The dragon, however, seems to disappear! Jaxii assumes, correctly, that he has taken an invisibility potion. While this happens, Derrick tries to turn the crowd in Jaxii's favour by lying to them about her past exploits and succeeds in turning a small portion of the crowd to cheer for Jaxii - this enables Jaxii to reroll her next miss.
Back to the fight and Jaxii, unable to see the dragon, can only hold an action to attack the dragon when it appears, but she is also able to re-enter her rage - which had dropped during the lull in the fighting. Karoshi, fearing that he would do more harm than good if he tries something, decides to hold his tongue. The dragon, suddenly appearing beside Jaxii and attacking, is able to do damage with its bite and claws. Her reactionary attack does hit him, causing more damage.
Iwee attempts to rile up Jaxii by standing on a "stage" and performing, but unfortunately fails, and Jaxii remains her usual calm self. The dragonborn decides to use her breath weapon, spewing flame from her mouth. The dragon fails to dodge and is further charred by the burst of fire from Jaxii. He is still standing though, and attacks once again, Jaxii's rage once again saving her from falling.
Derrick attempts to use his historical knowledge of dragons to distract the creature, but fails in the attempt. Jaxii is unimpressed at his attempt and just greatswords the dragon twice, scoring good hits. The dragon responds, damaging Jaxii but she still stands!
Another break in the fight and Jaxii decides to down a potion of heroism. The dragon, on low health after some hard hits from Jaxii, manages to boost back up with its potion of healing. Karoshi tries to work out what would be distracting to the dragon using his insight, but he gets it wrong, and his assumption that the dragon would be worried about his treasure hoard turns out to be incorrect and the paladin only manages to boost the dragon's anger.
As the fight restarts, Iwee uses her animal handling to attempt to calm the dragon down and this seems to work very well, bringing him back down to 'normal' and managing to undo a lot of the damage done by the prior failure attempts. Jaxii runs to the pillar and rages once more, and prepares an action to throw a javelin at the dragon, which works as the dragon flies over, piercing his hide. The dragon bites down at Jaxii, hitting with both claws and teeth.
As Jaxii gasps in pain, Derrick decides to avoid making things worse and does nothing. Jaxii hits with her greatsword, and hits both times, for decent damage, but the dragon, heavily injured, survives the attack. Not only that, but he regains his breath weapon at this point and blasts Jaxii with poison, taking her down and winning the fight!
The crowd go mad and cheer as the dragon, bleeding badly, rises up to the skies and does a victory circle around the stadium as cleric rush in and revive Jaxii.
Back in the recovery room, the group reassembles and Jaxii is healed. After some time resting, they are presented once again before the elders. The elders are actually impressed that Jaxii lasted 10 rounds with the dragon and was close to winning the battle, but as per the rules of the challenge, Jaxii is not accepted into the Sintaran clan.
Struggling with options for getting information from the clan elders, the elders suggest that either they get the Nakshatra clan to back down from the feud, or, perhaps, there is another option…
…It turns out that some 6 months previously, three Sintara clan members were taken by a certain Countess Alani, and they have not been seen since. Countess Alani is a powerful vampire, who resides in Barovia. They do not know why she had need for dragonborn, though she is known for having an exotic menagerie, or zoo, and there is a feeling that perhaps the dragonborn are still alive, and perhaps have been captured to look after a dragon, or dragon-like creature perhaps. None have tried to rescue them as yet, as it is not known how this could be done, but these last few days a scout of the clan has found out that Countess Alani is holding a masquerade ball in the next few days, and there may be a chance of gaining entry. None of the Sintara clan is keen to undertake this dangerous mission, but perhaps the party could try? To rescue the captives, or at least find out what happened to them?
As the group rest, and consider their options, the Nakshatra clan ancestors visit Jaxii. They are impressed with her showing in the arena, and with the fact that she refused to renounce her own clan. They offer to train her in a feat of her choice…
POST SESSION INFORMATION
Should the party decide that the rescue / information gathering mission is the preferred option, this is what they learn:
The Countess Allani lives in her mansion within Barovia, which is nominally located in the Shadowfell, but there is a strange and mysterious means to enter this realm - a means which changes regularly and seems to be under the control of the Vampires themselves.
The Sintara clan members which were taken were stolen from the outskirts of the Thunder Peaks some 6 months ago. It is only after the event that the rest of the clan learned that a strange mist (which is associated with a "portal" to Barovia) appeared shortly before the disappearance of the three. Only after some weeks of investigations have they put together all the information to surmise that the three were taken by the Countess Allani. The mists disappeared within days. The clan has been unable to do anything about this until…
The Sintara scouts returned 2 days previously. The scouts were not specifically tasked with finding out information about Allani, but they were aware of the missing clan members, so were open to finding out about Barovia in general, and the Vampire clans specifically.
They have discovered that Allani is throwing a Masquerade Ball in 2 days' time - they managed to find a "flyer" for the ball, as well as a guest list. They know that if you have a valid invite, then a means to gain entrance to Barovia, and to the ball, will be somehow provided. However, the clan do not know how to gain valid invites.
However, looking at the guest list, you spot a name you recognise - the Graysings. You think that, given you saved their lives, and those of their family, you may be able to persuade them to give you their invites, and possibly those of someone else they know? This may be something you will have to work out should you choose this option. You have 2 days to work out the details using your abilities, and maybe any useful contacts you may have made in the past…