Yeah, if you walk up to him and talk to him, this is completely fine and it makes sense that he will have his minions deal with us. But you can also shoot the dragon from afar and he will immediately fly away. This is what bugs me.
Ah, I didn't think of attacking the patrol outright. In that case, yes, if you attack a red dragon unprovoked at level 4, especialy after all the warnings the companions give you, you should expect to get incinerated.
I wonder if it's done this way because they need Voss and the dragon to be alive for later. If we were allowed to fight them, you can bet some people would find a way to cheese or cheat their way to victory, which could break some things.
