The Dragon Statue by @Symatt
Background
This encounter is part 1 of 2. The second encounter will go up on the site next week.
The village of Grellonwood is in peril. The Birthmoon river – usually a raging torrent of an inexhaustible supply of water – has dried up. Investigations by some villagers have revealed that upstream some Goblins are using an arcane portal to divert the river somewhere else.
The villagers are frightened by the sheer number of Goblins around the portal and so they turn to the PCs to help. The villagers do have one trick up their sleeve. An ancient prophecy says that the bestial statues in the centre of the village would come alive at the village’s greatest hour of need but only in the presence of those that are worthy. So far, none of the villagers have been deemed worthy and the statues are as inanimate as they usually are. The villagers ask the PCs for help.
Animating the Statues
There is one statue for each PC (how convenient!). The PCs can spend 4 healing surges to animate a single statue. While infusing the statue with their life force, the PCs make checks. If successful the HP of the statue increases. If unsuccessful, the healing surge still counts towards the 4 needed to animate a statue but the HP of the statue does not increase.
When the PCs approach the statues read out the following (with X being the number of PCs):
X statues of dragon like beasts stand in front of you. Each one is in a different pose. The statues look like they are carved out of stone, but the lines are too perfect. No stonemason could have made such realistic looking beasts.
If the PCs make an Arcana check (DC 23). Read out the following regardless of whether they pass or fail.
The statues appear to have the barest whisper of an arcane life within. The statues need some kind of life force to nourish it and allow it to escape from its statuesque form.
If the Arcana check was successful then the number of HP the statue gains from a spent healing surge is 10 instead of 5.
If a PC spends a healing surge to help animate the statue they gain no HP for the spent healing surge and they make a Heal/Nature check (DC 16). If the check is successful, the HP of the Bestial Statue increases by 5 (or by 10 if the arcana check above was successful) and the healing surge counts towards the 4 needed to bring the statue to life. If the check was unsuccessful, the HP of the statue doesn’t change, but the healing surge still counts towards the 4 needed to bring the statue to life.
Once a statue has received 4 healing surges from the PCs, it bursts into life. Read the following:
The stone of the statue suddenly turns a milky blue colour as it busts into life. All 4 of the leathery wings flap about and the beast shakes off the dirt and dust that had gathered on its body over the years.
When in combat, each beast acts on the turn of the PC that is riding it and any action it takes is instead of the PCs own action.The Bestial Statues have the following statistic block:
| Bestial Statue Medium animate |
Level 5 Artillery XP N/A |
|
| HP40+ Bloodied 20+ | Initiative Initiative bonus of PC riding it | |
| AC 22; Fort 20; Ref 21; Will 19 | Perception +4 | |
| Speed 5 (fly speed) | low-light vision | |
| Standard Actions | ||
| Breath of the Bestial Statue ♦ At-Will | ||
| Attack: Ranged 5 (one creature or object) +10 vs Reflex Hit: 1d8 + 5 damage |
||
| Focussed Breath ♦ Recharges 4-5 | ||
| Attack: Ranged 5 (one creature or object) +18 vs AC Hit: 1d6 + 5 damage |
||
| Triggered Actions | ||
| Sacrificial Statue (Reaction) ♦ At-will | ||
| Trigger: The rider of the statue is hit by a ranged attack Effect: The statue takes the damage instead of the rider |
||
| Str: 14 (+4) Con: 15 (+4) |
Dex: 19 (+6) Int: 11 (+2) |
Wis: 14 (+4) Cha: 10 (+2) |
| Alignment Good | ||
| Description | ||
| The statues have a vaguely draconic appearance with 4 wings. | ||
This encounter was inspired by a scene in Assassin’s Quest
Find more art by @symatt here
2 comments
1 ping
Mike Karkabe-Olson
May 19, 2012 at 9:11 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
This looks like a fun encounter. I can’t wait to run it.
paulbaalham
May 21, 2012 at 10:07 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Hi Mike,
Thanks! Please come back and let me know if there are/were any improvements you will/did make.
Cheers,
Paul
The Canyon Run » Daily Encounter
May 26, 2012 at 3:17 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
[...] « The Statues of Grellonwood [...]