Avar: My brothers! Gather around, for we must discuss what awaits us at the entrance to the Fiery Core. Upon our entrance into the fiery abyss, we will be met with the guardians of one of the Four Walkers of the Flame. We must be weary, as what lies ahead is a challenge unlike anything we have seen before. The minor guards are of little concern, but we must be careful of the vicious Guard Dogs that protect the first guardian. Novo shall give you an account of what we face.
Adventurer: BAH! Mangy mutts? What do we have to fear? Toss a bone to them and there will be nothing to fear!
Novo: You naive fool! Silence your tongue and listen to my words. In my studies on the Fire Lord, I have gathered some information on these dogs, and have learned a very troubling secret. At first glance, no one would wonder why it is that these dogs always travel in packs of four. However, therein lies the problem. The dogs have the ability to raise their fallen pack members, but-
Adventurer: ...Rai-Raise themselves from the dead?! What monstrosity does such a thing? How can we defeat such a foe?!
Avar: Cease these interruptions! We will have order. Novo, please continue.
Novo: As I was saying, there is a weakness. The dogs cannot revive their brethren instantaneously. Rather, they require 10 seconds in order to revive a fallen ally. If we can manage to even distribute our attacks among the four dogs and take them down all at the same time, the dogs will be unable to revive their fallen allies.
Adventurer: Sir, what about the other packs of dogs? Would we have to separate them from the felled beasts as well?
Novo: No. My research tells me that a special bond is made among the dogs at birth. This bond is different for each pack of dogs. Therefore, only dogs within that specific pack may revive their fallen allies.
Avar: Vesica and Rasuka will split up their charges evenly among the four beasts in each pack. We will be careful not to cause too much harm to one dog so as to keep the party moving. We must clear that area out and make camp for the night, as it is one of the cooler zones within the core, or so our scouts tell us.
Vesica: And my scouts are never wrong, fearless leader. We have among us 5 melee combatants. I ask that our Shaman join me, and the remaining of our rogues split up evenly among the remaining hounds. Remain behind the beast, and use your frost spells, Shaman, as the beasts are weakened by it.
Rasuka: The Aqualords have given a gift to all of us. My closest advisers are currently bringing in a large chest. Inside each is are some pieces of armor that will provide minor protection against the flames inside. This should give us all an edge in combat against our fiery opponents. I have also conjured some potions that shall increase our resistance to the flame as well. Use them wisely, for they are limited in duration and in number.
Avar: Perhaps it is important to now explain what greater evils await. The first of the four Walkers of the Flame, Fron. *laughter is heard.* Sure, you may think the beast has a funny name, but do not be put at such ease. He watches over the Flame Lord's chief Guard Dog, whom I will get into later.
Research and scouting tells us that he has the following abilities. This is a terrible foe, capable of casting a curse that can sap the stamina from those that stand near him. He also has the ability to place a highly damaging curse on his enemies. Our spellcasters will have to get rid of this stamina-sapping curse quickly, and our healers will need to ward off the damage curse or we will quickly fall. His two elite guards will cause much trouble, and must be killed first. They have the ability to brainwash our allies and turn them against use for a short period of time. I will distract Fron and draw him away from the main attack unit, while my understudies distract the elite guards for the attack force to kill. Once they are dead, we shall converge upon the main target. As he grows weaker, we shall have our spellcasters focus all their power on him, rather than the removal of the stamina-sapper.
Rasuka: To me, my advisers and understudies! We shall assign who is in charge of decursing who.
Novo: Come, my brothers of the light, for we must do the same as well.
Vesica: My scouting detail and I have discovered a flaw in the enemy's strategy to turn our allies against us. It seems that there is a small alcove that Fron can be brought into, where he will be unable to see his charges. The mind control requires a special psychic command from Fron, but he must be able to see his allies. Perhaps we can use this to our advantage and limit the charges' use of mind control?
Avar: Excellent work, Vesica. But this night shall not be as simple as taking down this fiend. No...we must also kill the Prime Guard Dog, Mag. As Novo has informed me, the beast is extremely savage. Our hunting group will need to using some form of a taming shot, or else the beast will tear me to shreds and kill the rest of our party. It is important that the rest of this party stand behind the beast, or else he will spew lava onto all of you-a technique observed by Vesica's scouting party, where the beast burned 5 small creatures to a cinder with one spit of his flame breath.
Vesica: If I may interrupt, sir. The beast also has a terrifying roar-two of my scouts were nearly scared out of the Core itself. We must position ourselves in a way that the fearful bellow will not cause too much discord. Also, the beast may have caught some glimpse of us, and it hurled a massive ball of fire from its mouth. The ensuing fire lasted for a short time, but burned with such intensity that we were forced to retreat before we could complete our scouting duties.
Avar: This is our mission as it stands tonight. We must slay the dog and capture Fron.
Rasuka: Capture Fron? But why?
Avar: We do not know what dangers lie ahead of us in this cavern. Fron is a high-ranking officer in the service of the Flame Lord. We shall coax all the information we need out of him. I also hear that the Four Walkers of the Flame are constantly looking for ways to one-up one another. Perhaps we can trick Fron into telling us what we want to know by using this information. Either way, this is the only way we shall find out more about what awaits us in the deeper parts of the Core. So, again, we must kill Mag and take Fron prisoner. Are we ready to embark?
Rasuka: The fire protection gear and potions have been distributed. We are prepared.
Avar: ONWARD, TO GLORY! *draws sword, charges forward*
Rest of Party: FOR THE GLORY OF THE LEGION! *charges*
