Recap:
The group, exhausted and battered, gathered on top of the castle to discuss their next move against the overwhelming enemy forces. There was no sign of the Fey, the Kobalds and Kiloreen dropped back to rest, and the Storm Giants were quiet for the time being. Everyone agreed that an assault overnight would be the best bet, but physical and magical resources were all but depleted, there was no way to reach the giants in the clouds, and they were heavily outnumbered. The group decided to rest around midnight, but were all woken up a half hour later by a call to arms. Within minutes, there were screams of terror and pain as clouds of poison gas erupted over the battlegrounds. A sizable black dragon came streaking over the castle and began attacking all in its path. Fortunately for the group, Grant was still holding the flag which protected everyone in the immediate area from succumbing to dragon fear. Everyone else within a square mile was not so fortunate. Chaos ensued and people on both sides began to run in terror and die horrific deaths.
Claude, in a moment of concern, made a wish upon Greymander to grant everyone a full night's rest and to be fully restored of all ailments. Everyone on top of the castle immediately fell asleep. An instant later, we all awoke feeling spectacular. Those of us in the radius of the wish benefited, while everyone else was still in chaos. Haas proceeded to buff the group and Grant hulked out his abilities for the pending battle. With the group ready for combat, they sorted out their plan. Vor'ruk, Rompei, and the Orcs would head toward the Kobalds and hydra. Haas would tend to the Halflings and get them safely out of the area through a network of underground tunnels using summoned badgers, Grant and Claude would assault the dragon, and Valizar was tasked with holding off the Kiloreen.
Claude and Grant turn invisible and take to the sky to pursue the dragon. Once they encounter it, it unleashes a wave of toxic fog. It is confident, almost to the point of arrogance, that it has dispatched the duo. To the shock and awe of the beast, Claude emerges from the cloud unharmed with a smirk across his lips. He unleashes Greymander's hunger upon the dragon. The ferocious attack reveals that the dragon was painted to look black, but was actually green. Green just so happens to be one of Claude's specialties. Greymander shrieks in joy. After mere seconds, the creature withdraws. Unfortunately for this menacing beast, Grant was waiting for it. It tries to grapple, but thanks to freedom of movement, the attempt ends in failure. Grant unleashes a volley of Tyrogatorian justice upon the dragon. It barely escapes with its life. The two heroes pursue the dragon and eventually catch up to it. Grant hangs back a bit and Claude continues the assault and nearly lops the dragon's head off. Grant, from a seemingly impossible distance, launches an epic flying kick that snaps the dragons neck and spine, spins it's skull around nearly 360 degrees with the sheer force of the kick, then smiles as the creature plummets to the ground. It lands with a sickening thud. Greymander lets out a sigh of disappointment that it was not able to consume the dragon's soul, but nonetheless remains happy with the amount of suffering the creature must've felt before the darkness took it.
Meanwhile, a fully refreshed, enlarged, and heavily buffed Valizar decides to dress himself in the hydra carcass in order to provide some cover from the Kiloreen archers. He also grabs a full size dining room table from the castle to provide himself with cover. He makes his way over the castle wall and rushes ahead to the 1000+ Kiloreen watching his every move. Valizar knows his enemy is watching. He knows they can see everything he's doing. He thinks to himself "You know the sun rises every day, yet can you stop it? I am Tyrogatore's sun rising in the east. Let us see if you can stop me." He rushes out to face his foes. He makes his way out about 400 feet when over 1000 arrows rain down on him. His girth, combined with his makeshift cover, provides him significant protection. He continues onward only to be assaulted again by 1000 more arrows. He shakes off the damage and pushes forward. One more volley comes streaking in before Valizar finally reaches his destination. He rushes straight into melee and immediately decimates a handful of Kiloreen. Heads are crushed, limbs pulverized, and entire torsos launched hundred of feet in the air across the battlefield. The archers in the back of the field continue to fire while those closest to Valizar try to regroup. The mighty Gatori continues to preach the good word of Tyrogatore. Eye sockets are skewered, brain matter turned to jelly, and chest cavities flattened to the size of parchment. At this point, the Kiloreen begin to flee in terror and break ranks. Those of them that were desperately trying to give orders were brutally crushed in front of their subordinates as an example of their misdeeds. A minute or so later, the entire legion of Kiloreen that remained fled into the woods. Valizar pursued for a while, but could not travel through the dense forest very easily. He decided to regroup with the others, and so headed back to the castle area. On his way back, he stopped by Drile's keep to see if anything was being done out that way. The specter of Drile appeared and summoned Valizar into the keep. Drile warned of a catastrophic danger approaching and asked Valizar to gather his brothers and meet back at the keep.
Valizar rushed back to the battlefield to gather his brothers and found Grant and Claude laying waste to those creatures foolish enough to oppose them in combat. By the time he reached them, most of the creatures were dead or fleeing. Grant and Claude agree to go to the keep. The trio rush back to Drile and he takes them into the keep. He says that the overwhelming presence of the Lord of Scalehome approached and that they would be safe in there. They wait it out a few minutes and, by the time they get out to the battlefield, there is nothing left to see. All activity had ceased, the castle grounds were completely abandoned, and only the dead remained. All enemy and ally forces were nowhere to be found. At that point, the group decides to search the grounds and double back to where the dragon corpse was. This too was missing. Not a trace was left with the exception of a handful of scales that fell from the sky during the dragons decent upon death. They collect what they could and regroup. Grant then receives a sending from Haas saying that he and the Halflings are safe and that Vor'ruk and his troupes are en route as well. We agree to meet at the rendezvous point. Once reunited, the group embraces and discuss their next move. Haas insists on heading back to the orphanage at Lynkeed and wind walks his way out of camp. The others gather around and tend to the wounded.
To be continued...
