We had a very tense session last weekend! The party is on level 2 of the Frost Giants module G2, having made their way through the ENTIRE Glacial Rift to end up in the caves beneath the mountain. They made their way cautiously around the open areas, exploring every dead-end chamber and tunnel. They were ambushed by the ice toads (who posed little or no problem) and located the "map of the Jarl's Caverns" in the hand of the dead frost giant by the collapsed tunnel. They even wanted to excavate the tunnel using transmute rock to mud spells (I discouraged this, saying that the rock above was too unstable) as their dwarf henchman could attest.
So they went to the boulder-blocked area off the main entry chamber (marked STOREROOM on the map). Moving the boulder aside (3 fighters with strength spells on them!), they entered the tunnel leading into the lair of the 2 white dragons. They came upon the male dragon as it was turning the corner to see who invaded its lair. The ranger thankfully was not surprised. At the urging of his wife, he readied the ring of spell storing (taking off his gloves to do so) and the others were oblivious but alerted to some danger ahead. Due to the shape of the entry tunnel, only the front line (ranger and dwarf fighter henchman) and the lantern-bearer hireling could see what was happening. The others were aware that there was danger (from the ranger's warning), but not what they faced.
The first round of combat went poorly. The dragon, spotting intruders, breathed at the entry tunnel. That spelled the end for the 3 hp hireling lantern-bearer who froze in place as a "corpse-icle." The others made their saving throws. The ones in the hallway behind were also affected by the frost since the bulk of the area of the cone would have splashed into the tunnel. I gave them bonuses to their saves based on distance from the corner (starting at +2, then +4, and +6 to those in the back ranks. The druid, just outside the tunnel, was too far away to be affected by the breath weapon.
Needless to say, I decimated the hit points of the party. Since everyone saved, they were all alive but very hurt, some in single digits. Then the ring of spell storing released the fireball which blossomed on the dragon. The dragon failed its saving throw by 1 and took full damage (+1 damage per die) which was 11d6+11 damage total!! The rolls were poor, unfortunately, and the dragon was left alive, but extremely pissed!
The next round the party decided to retreat, leaving the cleric, ranger, and dwarf fighter in the front to handle the dragon. The magic-user and thief backed out of the tunnel, followed by the halfling fighter. They all huddled behind the boulder while the druid cast a healing spell on the magic-user. The dragon moved into the entry way to attack those that burned him. It could not attack yet since it had to cross the distance first. The others took defensive postures while the cleric cast a pitiful cure serious wounds (5 hp!) on the ranger to bolster his health.
On the third round I rolled randomly to see what the dragon would do. He opted to breathe again (ugh). The cleric was casting a flame strike at the dragon. Initiative was rolled and the party lost (big time). The dragon breathed again, rearing up to strike those directly in front, so the splash back was less severe than before. The fighter and dwarf were instantly killed (dwarf saved but was only 7th level, and the ranger failed his save with a 3). The cleric, whose spell was disrupted, was barely hanging on with 6 hp left.... The others looked on in horror as their friends died (and party morale took a nose-dive).
The cleric attempted to withdraw from combat, but the dragon stretched out his neck and chomped down on the hapless cleric who fell to -3 hp. A blast of magic missiles on its head did the dragon in the following round but the damage had already been done. Two members of the party were dead, a 3rd was dying, and the hireling was thoroughly frozen. The party moved in to tend to the dead and dying when the magic-user spotted the SECOND dragon approaching!
The magic-user quickly set up a wall of force to completely block the entryway while the djinn was summoned forth to carry the dead. They immediately retreated and had the djinn move the boulder back into place. The party retreated back to the glacier to do some healing. Unfortunately it was late and we had to stop, but the mood was somber in the room.
Unfortunately, the party has to retreat back to the safe base cave off the glacier. The other dragon, after finding that it could not exit the cave the normal way, decided to give chase on the surface (a tunnel leads to the surface through the northwest ceiling). This is going to be ugly. The dragon's mate is pissed and will likely circle the glacier looking for the party to surface. If they are smart they will go invisible - if not, they will likely perish to the other dragon! Oddly enough, they took on 2 mated dragons in a similar situation on their way off the glacier the last time (random encounter roll). They took some damage from one breath weapon before resorting to the fireball tactic. Of course, the rolls were much better then....
The dwarf henchman has died 3 times before and lost a lot of Constitution as a result. The ranger will be losing hit points due to Con loss when he is raised. Both will have to wait a week before returning to the front lines - two very heavy-hitting fighters who will be sorely missed. It's likely that the party will have to retreat back to civilization, a long trip that they can ill afford to make, especially with an angry dragon flying about and who knows what else lurking in the snow-swept mountains. I sincerely hope that no one fails their resurrection survival percentages! That would seriously disrupt player morale!
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