Help with Dragons!

[beckyangelix]

Hello!

Long story short:
In the game I've written for my players, there used to be a scourge of dragons across the land. A legendary mage sealed them all away onto a plane of his own creation. Now there are portals opening and dragons are starting to leak out. Turns out the Emperor wants the dragons away for the gain of his Empire, though they would be a benevolent thing for the land as a whole.
Some of my players are wanting to shut the dragons away, and some want to free them.

It's very much a cross between Oblivion and Skyrim. I am aware, ha ha.

PROBLEM: In the first quest, the players have to go through a marsh maze to where a portal has opened and a black dragon is attempting to break through.
HOW should the players A) seal it away or B) release it?
A spell? Bait? Physical force?

I am lost for ideas on this one.

[beckyangelix]

Anyone have any ideas?

[Gavinfoxx]

Whatever they come up with, of course!

[Xervous]

I don't know if this goes with the overall flavor of your DMing style, the campaign, and whatnot: plus its just a thought that popped into my head ten or so seconds after reading your post.

Regardless...

The weakening portals permit the dragons to partially enter the world, but they are bound to the general area of the portal until they enter the world more fully. Until a dragon has completely entered the world, treat the dragon the PCs run into as a sort of planar projection. If they kill it in their world, all traces of it disappear, but on the other side, it is just weakened and must wait longer before trying to force its ay through