Another story to bring you . . . the story of the Red Dragon Hatchling and the far too cocky party:
So, completely different party . . . back when I was in the military. There were 5 of them, all levels 5-7 . . . a Cleric, a Sorcerer, a Wizard, a Ranger, and a Rogue. They had been through some decent adventures and were at the level band I loved GMing for most in 3.5. Level 5-10 characters are at just the right amount of power to be dangerous and really stand out in their builds, but aren't reaching the points where the numbers get stupidly high. It's my favorite time for characters. I was thrilled.
However, this group, having bested some hefty constructs, overthrew a corrupt Cleric, escaped a cursed island, and defeated slews of other opponents, thought they were ready for the "big time". They wanted to go dragon hunting, and were pressuring me to set something up out of character. I told them that really wasn't smart, because I don't play dumb enemies, as they've seen, and dragons are exceptionally dangerous. They said they could take it, just look at how well they'd handled all my other encounters. I said, "Alright, I'll give you a test sometime soon, and if you can best it, then I'll set up a real dragon-hunting scenario."
In the next few sessions their group is set to the task of intercepting a transport ship that's carrying supplies to the enemy of their aligned side of a nation, in a civil war. The battle is a bloody one, but the tides are turned when the Sorcerer falls off the ship onto one of the cannons of their enemy. Fearing for his life, he casts Fireball on the gunnery crew in front of him, who seek to pull/push him to his death. Thankfully he made his reflex save (and they only had 4 guns to a side of a big ship . . . like I said, archaic black powder weapons are there in my setting, but rare) and was blasted through the air into the sails of his friendly ship, where he made his tumble check to safety on deck. The remaining enemies are quickly routed and killed off by the party. Victory is secured, though very costly and taxing for everyone.
The party thinks they just passed their test . . . oh no . . . the fun is just beginning.
See, the Sorcerer's "ingenious" maneuver killed off a large quantity of the crew for their ship, who had boarded the enemy's vessel. With minimal crew left, they have no choice but to tow in the enemy vessel, instead of just capturing it and sailing both back. For the flawed victory, the party is left on the crippled vessel to keep it secured and search it while they're being towed into port. They're left with their rations to eat, whatever they can scavenge from the ship, and a very . . . very long tow cable between vessels.
The party instantly sets out to search through the loot they had secured. Among the items, they find a magical storage crate with a massive egg inside it, surrounded with enchanted straw that's keeping it as hot as a smith's forge. For some dunderheaded reason, the group starts talking about how long it's been since they've had omelets. The wizard makes their arcana roll, identifying the egg as that of a Red Dragon. Then the group starts talking about the fact that they've never eaten dragon before, and they wonder if it'll be like having an ostrich omelet. The Wizard utterly ignored the fact that in her arcana roll, she was made aware that dragons understand and learn things while inside their egg, and can even hear the outside world around them. The player, well he (guy player playing a female character) gets right into the conversation, and starts up a debate about not eating the egg, but selling it on the Black Market, or keeping it for dissection and studies. The Ranger is the only one thinking that this is all folly and that the egg should be destroyed, while they have the chance.
Too late.
The egg, no longer kept in it's magically contained and preserved state, hatches. The small hatchling scurrying away into the hull of ship like the chest-burster from the original Alien. The Wizard screaming like a banshee and the others frantically scrambling for the gear that they had piled in the remains of the ship's captain's quarters. After signaling to the lead ship and informing her captain what was going on, the tow line was cut, and the party told they were to be left adrift until they had dealt with their problem. They would not allow anything so dangerous to potentially cross over to their ship and wreak havoc. The hunt was on.
This is where things go from "What are you thinking?!" to "What the hell is wrong with you idiots?!?"
First off, they split the party. The Sorcerer starts searching around the remains of the gunnery deck, the Rogue starts going through the crew quarters, while the Wizard stays glued to the Cleric's keister as they search the hold. The Ranger states he won't allow such a destructive creature to escape, so he decides to remain on the deck and keep watch (someone seems to be getting a hint). At this point I'm pulling people aside to keep out-of-character knowledge from acting as a game-changer.
The first to go down was the Rogue. Being isolated, and more suited for being a face/lock picker then any actual combatant, he gets caught in the twists and turns of the large ship bunk-house. A bunk-house of which he had sealed himself in, thinking that if he traps the hatchling in here with him, by chance, then it won't escape his sneaky backstab (because he just KNOWS he's going to catch the thing off guard . . . isn't that just automatic for rogues?) The hatchling darts in, maneuvering through all the tiny crevices that the bulky human can't reach, and picking him apart hit after hit . . . the Rogue not even able to get in a single attack. By the time he's actually screaming for help, he's already at 25% hit points and falling fast. With a critical hit, the hatchling rips out his throat as the sorcerer (the next closest character) bursts in. Moving to his dead friend, the hatchling takes the opportunity to escape out the open door.
One Down.
The Sorcerer gives chase . . . not even thinking about calling for help. He just feels he can take the hatchling out, no problem. He'll just chase it to his friends, or nuke it first and claim all the glory. After all, the Rogue was stupid and locked himself into a tight, confined space with the thing. While the sorcerer does chase it to the galley, he gets an "ingenious" idea. He had filled the group's cooking pot with black powder that he had taken from the other ship. He was enamored with it after seeing what it did to the enemy vessel, and wouldn't shut up about the stuff . . . including around the egg. He decides he'll pull that out and use it to blast the hatchling to kibble. I ask him if he's sure he wants to start handling something so dangerous around a fire breathing dragon hatchling. He says, "YES! Of course! This will take the dragon out in one shot!" I ask again if he's sure. I get the same response. So he stops in the middle of the galley and starts making alchemy rolls to create a bomb out of the cast iron cooking pot, its respective lid, and several pounds of black powder. Well, this leaves him completely vulnerable to a surprise attack. The hatchling, seeing an opportunity, decides to ambush the oblivious Sorcerer with his "paltry" breath weapon (still more potent then Burning Hands). It's more than enough. The blast rocks the ship and obliterates the Sorcerer, who utterly failed his reflex saves vs. both the breath weapon, and the resulting explosion. His corpse (or what's left of it, rather) is blasted out the side of the ship and into the ocean at -20 some hit points.
Two Down.
The Ranger presumes the Sorcerer is doing something stupid, and remains vigilant, as the Sorcerer liked blowing things to pieces. The others, however, become quite wary down in the hold. The Wizard is already freaking out, and the Cleric just wants to complete the search and meet up with the others (those others who are dead). As the Wizard virtually runs for the stairs to check on the explosion, hoping the ordeal is over, the hatching swoops past her, down into the hold, hoping to hide. The Wizard turns and casts grease, hoping to slip up the hatchling and leave it vulnerable for the Cleric. The Wizard wasn't paying attention to the fact that the hatchling was flying. The Cleric slips and falls while blindly chasing the hatchling deeper into the hold, ignoring the spell that was just cast by the Wizard. The Wizard follows up with Web, hoping to trap the hatchling that she now realizes is flying. Not only does the hatchling make it's save, and escape, but the Wizard was ignoring the fact that she was casting Web with the Cleric in melee range of the hatchling. The Cleric fails his save, and is stuck. The hatchling does a sweeping series of hit-and-run attacks, on the Wizard, doing modest damage, before going for cover entirely. The Cleric, hoping to get free and be of use, cast a "Still" Bull's Strength on the Wizard and tells her to get him loose (not himself, who even starts with more strength then her, and not Dex, which would make his recurring save easier). The Wizard moves into the oil-slick, and among the webbing, to attempt to free the Cleric. The hatchling takes this moment to use it's finally recharged breath weapon on the mass of webbing, the pile of grease, a ship hull of wood, and the two people held within. Not only do they take massive damage from the initial attack and combusting materials (killing the Wizard outright), but the Cleric's burning to death is only subsided by the lower hull flooding and bringing him to the bottom of the ocean.
The Ranger, seeing the hull sinking, grabs his gear, signals for the other ship, and swims to safety. The red dragon hatchling is never seen again, and presumed dead, until the ship makes landfall, at which point he actually catches a glimpse of it fleeing the ship, out the anchor port, like a scurrying rat. When asked what the Ranger wants to do, he says, "I'm acting like I saw absolutely nothing, and I'm looking for a new party."
At least ONE member of the group learned his lesson.