First off, let it be known that I will be mentioning ToB special abilities, so if you do not wish to know, you may not want to continue reading. This also contains Temple Ruin spoilers.
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So here I was, soloing with a Cavalier, and I knew eventually I would have to kill Dragons and stuff, but I was nervous, because well, I never fought a Dragon before without Mage support.
So I dilly-dallied with subquests until finally, I reached level 19. Since Paladins gain a special ability per level after level 17, I had Whirlwind, Greater Whirlwind.
My only summon is a Genie, from the Genie Bottle I gained in Tradesmeet.
More confident now, I made my way to Umar Hills and began my quest to slay a Dragon. I reached the Temple Ruins and had a grand day running around( I had Boots of Speed from the Planar Prison quest) using my Turn Undead skill to destroy all the Shadows and Shadow Wolves.
Within the underground complex however, I had a heartstopping time at the lava room, I met a Lich, a Skeleton Warrior, a Skeleton Warrior Archer and 2 Greater Mummies... ...
I was like... what the Hell?!?! It was okay though, as I lured them out one by one, before proceeding to whack them with Azuredge.
I could Turn Undead the Skeleton Warrior, but I was not high-level enough for the rest. The Greater Mummies were a real pain in the a** though, because they needed a critical failure(1) on their saving throws to die instantaneously from Azuredge, and they hit real hard too with uncanny accurancy. The Lich was not a real problem, I had insane saving throws and I was immuned to fear. I darted in and out of sight and when the Lich casted his protection spells, I rested. Upon waking, the Lich's protection spells would have worn off, leaving him extremely vulnerable to a ranged Azuredge attack.
So I whacked them and went on to the next group of Undead, and lo and behold, it was the exact same combination... ...
In the end, I benefited though... the buttload of Xp I got from killing all the high-level Undead boosted me to level 20, and I chose Hardiness for my special ability.
One more Bone Golem and a snivelling Shadow later, I was finally at the entrance to the chamber where the Shadow Dragon lurked. I saved my game and proceeded downstairs... ...
The Fight
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Weapon setup, Frostreaver and Saving Grace. I decided to forgo Lilarcor and use a Shield instead, the +4 AC boosted my AC to -11 AC.
The moment I entered, I casted Hardiness, Draw Upon Holy Might, Barkskin and Armour of Faith, in that order.
Buffed up, I went to talk with the Dragon. The Dragon is surprised and leers at my Cavalier, going hostile. I managed to sneak in some damage through the Stoneskin thanks to elemental damage from the Frostreaver. The Dragon buffets my Cavalier and hurls his Dragon's Breath at me. I was worried at first, then I laughed... the Amulet of Power I was wearing rendered me immuned to his Dragon's Breath.
I rushed at the Dragon again, but he casted Protection from Magical Weapons. Since I had no means of dispelling it, it meant running around for 4 rounds. So I summoned my Genie to distract the Dragon while I maintained some distance, Genie did not last very long, because the Dragon casted Death Spell.
Thank goodness for the Boots of Speed.
When four rounds passed, I heard the spell wear off, which was my cue to charge. I activated Whirlwind and removed the Stoneskins, then I activated Greater Whirlwind and pummeled the Dragon. The Dragon was now near death, and with a few more blows, the Dragon finally dropped dead.
I drank 5 Potions of Greater Healing during the course of the battle, and gained a huge ego boost.
It is an extremely wonderful feeling to tackle a Dragon with only one character.
The Death Blow
Thanks for reading!
[ADD]
I added my report on Firkragg at the bottom of this page. [img]smile.gif[/img]
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[ 04-22-2002, 04:09 AM: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]