Running My Family Through 4e Pt. 3: The Dragon

You can see parts 1 and 2 here and here.

Finally, I’m wrapping up the game with my family. Sorry it took so long!

The heroes enter the chamber.

Descending the staircase, the heroes found themselves in a massive room, dominated by three magic circles and a large platform with a Kobold Wyrmpriest on top, chanting over the circles. The sorcerer shot electrical energy at the priest, while the seeker volleyed primal arrows. Wyrmpriest would be slain, but not before he was able to shout out the rest of his ritual. Two of the heroes, the ranger and swordmage had gotten to the other side of the large portal before it began shimmering. In the smaller two blue portals, kobolds began pouring out, attacking the heroes. The large portal stopped pulsing, and standing before the heroes… was a massive dragon.

Kobolds appear from the teleportation circles as the dragon appears.

It dominated the room, its massive tail sweeping the area. The heroes launched their attack as even more kobolds poured from the portal. The ranger moved in to meet them and, upon stepping on the portals, discovered they turned red on contact.

The sorcerer, seeker and bard stood in the stairway just in front of the dragon. Opening its mouth, it unleashed flame upon them, fire sweeping up the stairway.

The massive dragon looks upon the heroes with contempt.

My sister-in-law (again, playing the ranger) realized that no kobolds came from the teleportation circle as long as it was red, and so stayed on the circle while sending her wolf companion to the other. She began taking out the minions as quickly as she could so that she could focus on the dragon.

Sweeping its massive tail, it knocked the swordmage (Bridget) back against the wall.

The three in the stairwell attacked back, firing arrow, magic and song in an attempt to take it down. It unleashed its fear attack, giving all of the heroes big negatives and save ends effects.

The dragon breathing fire down on the heroes.

The battle slogged on, the dragon breathing down on the heroes while the bard bolstered them.

My dad, the sorcerer, ended up unconcious and dying on the stairs, the victim of a series of claw and bite attacks. The bard’s healing powers brought him back from the brink, but I soon realized I needed to wrap up this battle. 300 HP for this dragon could definitely cause this fight to drag-on (see what I did there?) for another hour or more. I mentally brought down its HP to a more reasonable level, when Bridget got a bright idea, and Fey Stepped onto its back.

The Eladrin Swordmage attacks from above.

Now being attacked from behind, in front and above, the dragon became bloodied and began showing signs of wear. Within a couple more rounds, the beast was slain.

***

The game, I think, went really, really well. I allowed the heroes to do whatever they wanted, without constraining them to their character sheets, and I think they all really enjoyed themselves. My dad in particular, I think, since I made the sorcerer for him and named it after his Magic User from 0e, so it was like his character returning to fight again!

I’m thinking I might need to make this an annual occurrence. Next year, however, we’re holding Christmas here in Chicago, and there will be a lot more family members here. It might be kind of fun to have 10-12 people gathered around the table to play!