"Don't forget a lich of any kind - even a dracolich - has a phylactery. Likely that's in a lower level. We need to destroy that too - or the dracolich will come back and likely search us out for revenge," Amara reminded the others.

"Right, a phylactery," Myarra agrees, nodding her head a little sheepishly. "That's what I meant."

The phylactery is probably in the area down the stairs where we can't scry. I know this has been mentioned before, but I think we should wear masks so nobody can identify us. As for the Dragon itself slashing and biting anyone in range, I can make up some scrolls of Stoneskin.

"Okay, good, so we are agreed on finding the phylactery so that it can be destroyed. That means we can't just kill, grab, and go - we're going to have to do some searching to find the phylactery." Amara pressed.

"I do not want to have to do this again," Myarra agrees. "We kill the dracolich and the cultists. That's first. We then free the slaves. The slavers can die or run away, I really don't care.

"But, no matter what, we absolutely can't leave until we destroy the thingy. The lich stays dead. Hopefully, we'll find it when we go downstairs to mop up the cultists, but I'm sure that's going to lead us into several more nasty surprises.

"The details are in whether or not we use the flooded tunnels, whether or not we use the crab, and whether or not Gunther will be running a simultaneous distraction."

She looks over at Nolan. "I'm really liking the sound of that stone skin thing. Is there anything that will protect us from a breath weapon? It's not often we get the time to fully prepare for a fight before we start.  And while masks would be nice, and I'm not saying no, several of us are rather distinctive in ways a mask won't help. A party of our composition isn't exactly common."

"And we can't put a mask on the ship. Well, we can, but it won't help," Amara agreed. "No magic to help against breath weapons. Sorry."

In reply to Amara (msg # 598):

"I have magic that helps individuals against various sorts of energy temporarily, but nothing that will protect the ship, sorry "

I wouldn't worry about the ship. It can move faster than any Dragon can fly and by the time we'll actually need it, the Dragon should be dead and it won't matter. We just need to think about the secret way inside the mine and how we want to get there to explore without being caught. I'm sure there are patrols of Cultists wandering around the trails of the forest there, but from what we gathered from the scrying, that old cave entrance was over grown and hidden from anyone wandering by. But, that will all change if work starts being done there.

"I don't know much on these matters about phylacteries, but what would happen if you destroyed that first?"

Twiggy sits and listens not having much to say but making a list of items he needs in his head.

Destroying the phylactery first would just make the Dragon aware of our presence and bring us a whole lot of trouble. But, it's a coin toss anyways. If we killed the Dragon, we'd have to locate the phylactery and deal with all the guards guarding it while trying to escape. If we got the phylactery first, we'd have to deal with all the guards while we go after the Dragon next. That's probably why we can't scry in the area down the stairs. That's where the cultists are probably hiding the phylactery.

"So we can't leave the cultists alive because we can't let them escape with the phylactery. We need to kill every one - at least until we find it." Amara summarized. "A few of us - Twiggy and I and maybe a few others - could sneak in without the cultists seeing us - but even if I cast invisibility, I doubt most people would be quiet enough to avoid notice. Silence could be helpful, but as it would affect others too close to us, that will also tip them off. So I don't think we're going to catch the dracolich by surprise in any event."

"Well, I hope it doesn't come to that. I will defend myself to the best of my ability, but if Cultists are fleeing, we should let them go after we search them for this phylactery. I also think we should try and capture a Cultist and question them for information that would help us. I wouldn't mind is a Charm Person spell was cast for that purpose."

Amara frowned at Roenthelm. She understood he would rather find a way to avoid a fight - but that did not make sense in some situations like this. She worried that he might become a liability.

"Charm person isn't likely to be enough - that makes someone friendly, but people in a battle or who already see you as an enemy aren't likely to be charmed at all. Suggestion might work. But there is a good chance only a few will know where it is. And letting any escape may let the phylactery escape with it - and therefore the dracolich to rise again and kill many more.

Don't you believe, Roenthelm, that killing one to save many is worthwhile?"

He is a worshipper of Ilmater. I remember long ago in Scornubel when they were hanging a man for murder. One of their priests of Ilmater protested the whole time and eventually took the murderer's spot instead of him. The priest died and the murderer went free.

"I fully agree with Amara.

If we have not found the phylactery then we can not let any of the cultists flee. We do not need to kill them necessarily, but they can not be allowed to leave until they've been fully searched. If they have the phylactery then they will use it to make a new dracolich which will result in large numbers of deaths, the same as we've already seen here.

Remember that these are devout killers who delight in death and suffering. They're not just opportunists who will kill if it gets them riches. These are people wholly dedicated, specifically, to the murder of innocents."

"I agree with Myarra and Amara. The Cultists can't go free unless they've been searched first. Stripped naked would give some justice to the people imprisoned, though." Vernon said to Byron, who told the party "Perhaps Gunther and his men can guard the front entrance to prevent anyone from leaving?"

Aamra is disgusted at Nolan's words. She doesn't doubt him. Nor does she relish killing (even though she had been taught that she should while growing up and, perhaps even for a while, did). But she certainly isn't against it when it needs to be done. But how can someone reason with that level of insanity?

Amara repeats Vernon's words for those who can't hear him. "I'm not sure they'd be powerful enough to stop cultists?" She said, looking at Nolan.

I honestly don't know Gunther's capabilities. But, I have a feeling that if this phylactery is in the mines, it'll be down stairs where we can't scry. So, we should make a decision. Go find the phylactery first, or go after the Dragon first?

Aliana pursed her lips in concern
"This is indeed a difficult decision.  Fighting the dracolich would be difficult, but it's at least something we can prepare for in advance, at least for the most part.   Going into the unscryed area to find the phylactery might be a good shortcut for destroying the dracolich, but it's a huge unknown in terms of what's there"

"Or we split forces. I won't be any good at helping with the dracolich or any other undead," Amara said, just to point out there was another option. She didn't actually think it was all that good of an idea.

"What about the Cultists that are with the Dragon? They will run in front to prevent Byron and Myarra from getting anywhere near it. Can your spells affect them?" Vernon asked Amara

"Anyone has a chance to shrug them off, but yes, my spells will usually affect people," Amara responded.

"From what you have scried are any cultist wizards strong enough to cast teleportation spells? I am sure they have a plan in place to take the phylactery to another area if the dracolich is destroyed.

We only get once to have the advantage of suprise so we have to decide if it is better to destroy the dracolich for good or free as many people as possible, it doesn't seem like we can do both with our current resources. Unless we want to send a couple of us down to see what we are dealing with below.

"It is certainly possible that some are that powerful, but I didn't see any specific confirmation of that. But when things are well in-control, one doesn't need to cast complicated spells often. And I wasn't watching a specific individual - rather primarily trying to map the area and then take notice of the people there. Some were certainly magic users - arcane or divine - but how powerful is unknown." Amara responded.