Immersive Ink

Lemmi backs further into the shadows and draws her blade, keeping it hidden...wyrm?

Lacking the ability to communicate with the beast, Chiron assumes combat is imminent and runs toward the door.

Flying snake! he yells out.

Brother Walfried, having not seen the creature himself, nevertheless responds the warnings from Chiron & Orim by hefting hammer & shield, and yelling behind him to the rest of the line:

"Some hostile beast! Prepare to retreat into the passage if it's too much for us!"

He then turns to face into the room, trying to catch a glimpse of the thing.

He will hold the doorway for a retreat. If attacked, he'll join melee, but will attempt to beat a retreat through the doorway himself, assuming the rest of the party follows suit.

Recognizing a foul tongue, Mero leaps forth to impale its utterer upon his lance.

Monsters? plural?

Morin retreats towards the relative safety of the doorway with the others, but hangs back to catch a glimpse of the creature before deciding whether to flee.

At this point I have:
Orim: go defensive
Chiron: run away!
Mero: charge to the attack
Lemmi: hide in shadow
Morin: hold at the door
Walfried: hold at the door

Boggs and his six men: nothing yet

If we don't hear from Boggs overnight we'll go as is...

"Boggsmen! Get in there and attack with your spears!" commands Boggs. He holds at the door, ready to run away if things go badly.

Mero rushes up to support Orim, hunkering down to a defensive position, as Chiron flees back toward him. The boggsmen hastily assemble an awkward line, then quick march in an attempt keep pace with Mero. As they cover their ground, the black dragon drops silently down from its chimney retreat, its sable coils gliding like smoke, to splay itself between two adjacent columns scarcely 15ft from Orim! Mero and the Boggsmen veer toward it as the monster snaps open its maw to disgorge a jet of hissing bile that burns instantly though Mero, his plate armor, and two of the Boggsmen behind him, in mid-stride! The smoldering wrecks of three men hit the floor at a pace, amid the turmoil of a broken rush; the remaining Boggsmen scream and scramble to turn about and flee before the same fate comes to them. Disaster!

Meanwhile, Orim is still hunkered down where he stood; Lemi has vanished from sight; the rest of the company are gaggled inside the exit way with Chiron and four Boggsmen screaming toward them!

Morale for Boggsmen 2d6=9, so good; they will move to attack despite their trepidation.

2d6=7, so the dragon will breath. Rrrrright; all guns blazing then.

According to DD4, dragon hp are determined the regular way, so the ref rolls for hp (clatter of dice).

Move Segment
In the first half of the move, Mero rushes to cover about 40ft to Orim, and the six Boggsmen firstly assemble a line, and then advance about 30ft after Mero.
The dragon (over boldly?) drops down to land between two columns about 15ft from Orim and Mero; positioned about 45 degrees from their most direct line of approach.

At this point (half-way thru the move segment) the dragon uses its breath weapon (split move and fire). We don't have figures set out on a board, but the ref determines a deadly line can be drawn through Mero (in the lead) and two of the boggsmen following him. Saving throws are allowed for these unfortunates:
Mero dices 1d20=6, alas!
And the Boggsmen dice 15 and 8, but these dice won't save them.
All three men are destroyed!

Three of seven (43%) men charging have died horribly, meaning the remaining four Boggsmen will require another morale check to complete their charge into combat. 2d6-1 (normal men outclassed by fantastic foe) = 5, which is a flee. Dang.

Melee Seg
Technical question: having used half a move and fired it's breath weapon, can the dragon then use the second half of its move to reach the boggsmen and melee them?

A man-type figure that fires a missile and is then contacted in melee would loose his first round of melee attacks in that turn. But a dragon is not a man, and is not being contacted. Moreover, there is typically a free attack against enemy fleeing from melee. But the boggsmen were never in melee, so the ref rules that in this case the dragon does not fall on them from behind.

Alas! Mero and two Boggsmen are smote!

Hmm, an unfortunate morale check at the critical moment? Or perhaps not?

In any event, what orders for turn two?