Let’s kill a Dragon. No magic. No modern technology. I submit the idea of trapping the Dragon in an enclosed space and using a Ballista, a giant crossbow, to shoot it and kill it. So how to trap it? How to avoid getting burnt by dragon fire? Any other ideas or methods???
Dam up a river, then divert it through the dragon’s tunnel, and drown it.
Where do you draw the line of “modern technology”? Gunpowder cannons, just to take one example, have been around for a very long time in various forms.
good idea. how do you build “irrignation tunnels” to the dragons lair without him noticing?
I would assume no gunpowder
Can we use a liiiitle bit of magic?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dragonlance_artifacts#Dragon_Orbs
Stop believing in them.
RIP, Puff.
What manner of dragon? Can it fly? Is it intelligent? Can it breathe fire?
If it is only of animal intelligence, then it is no more than a dangerous animal. We’ve been killing those for thousands of years. Even if it can fly and breathe fire, it’s still no more than a dangerous animal and could probably be brought down by massed archery fire.
Intelligence of human, or better, levels makes things a lot more difficult.
nope, no magic, just to keep to standard set of rules
well aren’t most dragons depicted as being intelligent?
In recent fantasy stories they usually are. Asian dragons are, traditionally, very intelligent but they also typically aren’t depicted as needing destroyed.
In European tradition, dragons are typically just very dangerous animals and they come in several varieties. I always thought wyverns were rather goofy looking.
Build a “wall” across the valley just below his lair; dragon doesn’t know from architecture so he has no idea how overbuilt it is, and thinks the humans are silly for doing it because he can just fly over it (or torch it; it’s made of wood…) (it’s actually a dam). Once the water comes down and makes a new lake…
Shove a big piece of lead in its mouth. When it breathes fire, it’ll melt the lead, which will burn through its gullet and kill the dragon. (or it’ll block its bronchi, suffocating it, depending upon your choice of authorities)
Worked for Bellerophon when he killed the fire-breathing Chimaera.
Well, sure, Cal. But first you need to catch a rabbit.
Even without intelligence I don’t think it will be easy.
Most of the large animals we have killed, we have done so by chasing it into a pit, off a cliff or into a small area in which we could surround it. Being able to fly I think is a big game changer. Also the standard mythical dragon has skin that is too tough for standard arrow fire to have much effect. Ballistas might do better, but its going to have to be a really lucky shot to hit a fast moving target. Mass Ballista fire might work but would be very expensive to set up. What’s our budget here?
How does it feed? Would it work to leave a few sheep* loaded down with saddle bags full of arsenic around its den and wait for it to chow down.
- or virgin princesses
I’m assuing they can fly and breath fire and are intelligent. but no use of magic.
ok, interesting idea
how do you get close enough to put the lead in it’s mouth
i would assume the skin is tough bit nor impenetrable
Can we fight in the way of our people by slowly poisoning his environment until he loses his [del]fur[/del] scales and becomes sterile?
let’s assume he is impervious to poison. good idea!! but i want to kill it in a “fight”
If he’s non-magical and he can fly, there is a limit to just how thick and impenetrable his hide can be, and his eyes aren’t armored at all. He has to get physically pretty close to use his fire breath (flame throwers are notoriously short range weapons) and closer yet to use his teeth and claws.
I’m pretty confident that massed crossbow or longbow fire is going to be the best way to handle this, especially if the dragon is of human-level intelligence. He isn’t going to just sit around and scratch his scaly nutsack while we tunnel or build dams. He is, in fact, going to be carrying the battle to us and trying to maximize the damage he can do with his weapons. I expect crop burning will be a big thing on his part as it is one effective method where he can attack all of us at once.
agreed, but, i was interested in any/all ideas so i think a flood/dam still gets credit for creative thiking
It was creative, but given the restrictions you have placed, it is unworkable. Building a dam big enough to accomplish the necessary flood with nothing but human and animal labor is a monumental undertaking. Something large enough might actually take years to construct with the work crews under threat of dragon attack the whole time.